Summoned
by Sereo
Summary: This is the first thing I'm writing since forever. As for the story, -OC that has seen the anime and is thrown into the hotd world. *NEW* Poll on the Author/main/bio page. Ch 47 80% done 0% prfr [Older chapters on remake. Ch 17 re-done. Credit goes to the beta that is checking these chapters with me. DiscereEstVivet (Chapters 18-25 have horrible line breaks) ]
1. A sunny day

Some info:

The story will be told from a first-person perspective, the OC's

"This is talking" "Go jump over that fence"

(This is thinking) (I will jump over that fence)

This is narration/action- I Jumped over that fence

-Extra-

[Plz change your writing style for conversations plz. It ruins the whole flow of it and brings up my next question of: Why did you change it in the first place anyway]

This was a guest review I got some time ago. I would like to request reviews like these to have more information inside.

Thank you

So, where was I…

Oh right

* * *

Yet another sunny day. Then again, most days are sunny here in Japan... It has been about 3 weeks since I 'arrived' here, and I still had a hard time coming to terms with it to be honest.

Right now I was sitting at my school desk, which was located at the back corner of the class. And while the class was still in session, I was just staring outside. Towards the school's gate.

...I have always been fascinated by this country.

I grew up watching animated shows that were created in Japan, and it didn't take long before I started playing video games as well. I've actually lost track of how many hours I spent on both. Hell, even my initial understanding of Japanese came from these sources of entertainment, and let me tell you… right now, it all feels… like total… bullshit.

While I was in my own head, the sound of bells echoed throughout the school, signaling the end of class. I snapped out of my inner thoughts and started to pick up my stuff, only to see the teacher gesturing for me to go to him.

( Ughh… good job me, that's what you get for not paying attention to the class like an idiot in plain sight. )

"Naier Sepfier?" The middle-aged teacher, who's frown seemed to be a permanent addition to his face stared at me. His eyes pretty much telling me that he would rather be at his local cafe playing mahjong rather than waste his time on me.

"Yes, sir" I answered back.

"I know that you came here as an exchange student, and adjusting to a new foreign environment can take time. But it has been three weeks, and I would prefer if you actually started paying some attention to the classes you are supposed to be present at Sepfier."

He said as his eyes practically drilled holes into me. I guess to him, not paying attention in his class equals to me not respecting his authority. Not that I'm surprised though, some teachers can be like that.

"Yes, of course. I'm sorry teacher, it will not happen again" I answered, trying to sound as sincere as I can.

"...Good, you may go now" Seemingly appeased with my answer, the teacher returns to his papers and signals me with his hand to leave.

With that confrontation finished, I picked my bag from my desk and started heading outside.

(While I really don't give much of a damn about his ramblings, it's not because I have something personal against him. It's simply because soon, none of this crap will really matter…)

I close the class door behind me and start heading towards the school gym.

(The lunch break should last about 40 minutes… it should give me enough time.)

Looking at the watch in my phone I nod to myself and start heading towards the stairs.

(For the last month since arriving at… let's just call this place Japan for now. I have been pushing myself non-stop. From physical training like running, sprinting, parkour and endurance tests, to looking up guides on how to use tools and weapons. Hell, I even took classes in armed self-defense and went to the gun range, multiple times a day too.

Not a very easy thing to do considering I'm still a high-schooler, aka under-aged. Meaning, I had to go the extra mile just to get permission to even be allowed to enter the gun range. All of that, because… I was scared shitless… still am now that i think about it.

As one might expect, these things cost money, and they cost a lot.

While not really official yet, I was actually in pretty heavy debt. I had already reached the limit on the credit card that was given to me, and also sold everything inside my house in order to finance my… madness.

I was betting on the fact that very soon, the debt will no longer matter… because otherwise. well, I just dug myself into a pretty deep fucking hole.)

While walking down the stairs my thoughts were interrupted as I saw a student leaning against the railing, his face having the words *dejection* written all over it.

(And then, there's this guy, in the same spot since the first day I 'arrived', still with the same depressed attitude. Truth be told though, I had reasons to cringe seeing that guy. The first one being, that for all his depression, this guy is actually what you might call 'The very lucky one' and now that I was 'here' in the flesh, I was actually pretty jealous of him.

The second reason though, oh the second reason made my stomach tie up into knots till I wanted to throw up, the reason was simple really.

I knew the guy, without actually 'knowing' him, and not in a stalker-ish kind of fashion. I don't swing that way.

The student in front of me is Takashi Komuro and his existence 'here' verified that things will soon go bad… very… VERY BAD.)

It also verified that normally speaking, I should NOT be here.

I slowly walk up to Takashi after descending the stairs.

(I was never good at socializing… but well… fuck it. Time to creep out the dejected dude, this needs to happen.)

I clear my throat slightly before speaking up.

"Excuse me?"

(I am far more nervous than I'd thought I'd be, am I really that bad at striking up conversations with strangers?)

Takashi seems to react to my voice and turns his head to me, one eyebrow raised in question while staring at my face with an odd expression.

"What, who are you?" He asks.

"Naier Sepfier, I'm a transfer student. Look, I didn't mean to bother you, but ever since I arrived here I keep seeing you on the same spot every day with a dejected look on your face… you ok?"

I fold my arms while finishing my sentence (yu-ok? Really? Is that the best I could come up with?)

The guy just… stares at me… I don't know if he is surprised or just plain annoyed.

" I've been better… why do you care though?"

He turns his back to me and stares away towards the school's field.

" Well like I just said. I kept seeing you here looking like you are about to jump off. I was curious" I came up for a reason on the spot as he kept staring away from me.

(Well shit, I can't tell him. Hur-Dur me know stuff. Plus he doesn't seem to be in a talking mood anyway.)

"Huhhh… well, if you don't want to talk, my bad. Didn't mean to bother you… I'll get out of your space… just don't go off doing something stupid all right, no shit mode last forever."

I raised both my arms as I turned around.

(Yea… stuff can always get worse, much… much worse. For the rest of the world at least)

I started walking away from Takashi, and the only thing I heard from him was a sigh. I leave the guy to his vices and head down towards my initial destination, the gym…

A couple of minutes later I was there, with the only person inside being me.

(No surprise there, that's why I decided to come here in the first place, most people are probably eating or relaxing right now… Well whatever, got my spare shirt in my bag so. It is time to run some laps.)

And with that I started to jog, lapping around the gym's track. As I kept running around the gym track, I tried to empty my mind so I could focus… Yet all it took for my focus to get messed up, was for me to look up and see the school's banner.

(Fujimi Academy… )

"Why the hell am I even here?" I curse under my breath. That, was all it took for my mind to start wandering again. I then stop running and start massaging my head with one hand.

"I need to collect my thoughts here… I'm running short on time… and I need to make the best of it while I can. Focus goddamn it"

(My name is Naier Sepfier, I'm 17 years old, and I am an exchange student from Europe. I can speak both English and Japanese. Why did I say Europe and not an actual country? It's because it doesn't matter right now, what matters is where I'm at. Fujimi Academy, in Japan.

With three days left before the biggest pile of shit ever seen by humanity hits the fan, and what do I mean by shit? Well I'm talking about the god-damn end of the world via an express zombie apocalypse.

As to why I know all this crap? It's because I've seen it… and not in any future vision type of bullshit. I have seen it… in a god-damn anime. Hehh… Yea, even when I'm telling to myself it sounds ridiculous

If somebody had told me that I would be waking up in a damn anime, I would have kindly asked them to be in one where perma-death and flesh-eating corpses are banned…

And speaking of Death. I have been thinking about this since I arrived here. As to why am I here. I mean, this is definitely NOT normal. So, what? I died? And now I am here because... I don't know, Illuminati and rainbow puking unicorns. I mean I KNOW who I am, I still have the memory of my 'past' life, that is the reason why I know what is supposed to happen in the first place.

And among other things, I also remember when I started my mandatory army training because my country is moronic, or when I got my first video game system. Though there are some things that I have forgotten, like my old native language for example.

But, I also know who I am now or… who I was 'here'. It feels more like switching a hard drive in my head, with each drive storing a different past)

"Ughhhh… there is no point thinking about this now, I need to focus on what is to come and be as prepared as I can be. Luckily for me, there's a silver lining."

(The body I woke up with is not the one I remember having… I would be dead and doomed if it was. While I was no Kohta, I definitely was not as athletic as I'd prefer for a zombie apocalypse.

This body on the other hand was above average to say the least and this last month I literally pushed it as hard as I could.

And it was paying off, I was getting faster, my reflexes were quicker, my punches carried a good amount of force and I could go on for quite a while without running out of breath. Physically I felt prepared.

Mentally on the other hand… I was a roller coaster of wrecking balls…

I was not actually a hundred percent sure what would happen when day-z arrived. If the whole thing won't happen, then I will be chased down by debt collectors... Or worse, if the zombie apocalypse does happen and I get stranded all by myself.

No matter how strong I become I cannot survive alone. This fact leads me to what really kept me up at night.

The story followed Takashi and his team. So I 'know' only what will happen to them. That means, to have any chance in actually using the knowledge I have. I need to join Takashi's team.)

"Also add the fact that I really don't want to end up all alone or tread in the dark in the middle of a god-damn zombie apocalypse."

And well, I'm gonna be honest with myself here…

( Takashi is a cool dude and all. But if he is going with a trio harem again, I might wind up trying to go all commander cockblock on his face. Yes, I'm salty, if he likes Rei so much to be depressed over it for this long, then he can keep it in his pants, thank you very much… I am actually feeling bad about Kohta now, knowing what he had to deal with, with him having a crush on Saya and all.)

"Ok… I have relaxed enough…. Now focus, keep jogging. I will worry about Takashi and his group when I get to them… Because first I need to actually get to them… If I keep freaking myself out every time I try to think about it, I'm gonna be the first one to kick the bucket too."

I pump myself up and start running again. I know better than anybody after all, that soon, everybody will be running with me.


	2. decisions

**3 days until Z-day.**

The room was dimly lit, the furniture that used to decorate it gone, sold off. With the exception of a normal bed and a desk with a computer and a printer. Other than that, the room was empty.

"Maybe selling the fridge so early was not my smartest idea." I say to myself while looking at what used to be a kitchen. Both the fridge and the stove were missing and fast food packages littered the kitchen counters.

"If the landlord sees this, he is going to shoot me in the face with a rocket launcher. Thankfully, he should not return until the end of this month and the world should go to shit before then, so I'll probably get away with selling off everything in here."

While I felt like shit for stealing from the landlord, as the furniture did not belong to me. I had already decided that I would use everything I could to make sure that I was prepared for the upcoming panic.

After surveying the empty room, I turned my head back to the computer screen, the words *the thinnest part of the skull* typed in the search bar.

"Pterion… so hitting, or better yet, stabbing sideways is the best way to directly deal damage to the brain after all. Come to think of it, I wonder if the reanimated dead have a fragile skull, or Takashi and his group can swing stuff around with the force of a truck. Because, if I remember correctly, they were cracking skulls open from every direction possible. Yea, I hope it's the first one or I am o-so screwed"

Next to the computer laid several stacks of printed papers. From manuals on how to use and maintain several guns, including the ones that I know Takashi's team will find later, manuals for cleaning blades, and 'how to' guides for silent running. Things that could help me survive a jam.

There was also a locked credit card and a small notebook on the desk.

"While I don't intend to pack anything on me, I better make sure I don't sound like a dinner bell when I have to move. After all, I intend to be the one that 'checks' Saya's theory."

I say to myself while picking up the papers that had methods on how to make your movement silent. From methods of choosing what gear to carry by running in place with whatever you aim to have on you, to using tape on the things you have in your pockets and how to stop your shoes from squeaking.

I then place the papers back on the desk and pick one of the gun manuals.

"I can also use these to get closer to Kohta. Having an acquaintance in the group can make quite the difference. Plus it would make it easier for me to explain why I could use the damn things in the first place."

After I spent some time skimming the manual, I lifted my head, only for my eyes to fall to the now useless credit card that was resting on the desk. The credit card that was given to 'me' before arriving in Japan.

"You know if the outbreak doesn't happen, I will have so much to answer for... I don't even know what happened to the past Naier before I became him."

Sick of dealing with the feeling of dissociation, I took my phone out of my pocket and glared at it. Turning the phone around I opened the back cover, removed the battery and took out the SIM card. Finally, I throw the disassembled phone inside the desk drawer.

"But, with three days left, I need a clear head to prepare for what is to come. And God knows I can't keep my mind focused if this thing keeps reminding me that this body is not my own every time it rings. I can't save everybody, hell I don't even know if I can save myself, so I can't afford any distractions."

After agreeing with myself that mopping about what 'was' and what 'is' ain't going to change a thing, I picked up the small notebook and started flipping through it. In it were schedules written with 2 different colors of black and red. The days written in black were the times I went to the shooting-range, with the red ones being days spent on self-defense lessons. Mostly armed ones, as I don't think I wanna punch a zombie in the face thank you very much.

Most of the cash I acquired from my, not so proud actions, was actually spent at the gun range, and I actually had to pass through several of them till I was able to convince one of the range owners to allow me to use the gun range. Of course, the fact that I said I would pay extra probably helped him make his decision.

"I pretty much turned the furniture into bullets if you think about it" I chuckle slightly as I keep flipping through the pages.

The rest of the cash went to food and driving lessons, as neither me, nor the old me knew how to drive.

(Was Japan's minimum legal age for driving always 18? I mean, I did have to jump through some hoops on that part too as I'm supposed to be 17...)

Normally, I would totally be lost if I were to be put behind the wheel, be it car or bike. And once again, I had to pay quite the "extra fee" just to get the teacher to agree to teach me.

(I guess with enough cash an underage person can get behind the wheel as well as behind a gun. Well, it's not like I'm going to need a license for either of those in the future, so the knowledge is all i really need. Also knowing how to drive and use a gun would probably be helpful even if the outbreak doesn't happen. Ughh...great, now I'm thinking like a frigging fugitive.)

I also thought about buying bite-resistant underclothes too, but I would have one hell of a time trying to explain why I was wearing that stuff in school.

Same goes for bringing any weapons. Even if I could manage to find a blade that was long enough for me to not risk shoving my hand into a zombie's mouth, I could not think of a good reason as to why I had such a thing with me in the first place. Best I could do for my equipment was to gear up along with the rest, or help them gear up faster.

I looked over at the calendar on my PC screen. With only 3 days left before "all you can eat day", I decided that it was time for me to check where the school stores its sporting goods, and to make my "accidental" contact with Kohta.

But first, I'm going to go outside to get some fresh air and buy something to eat for tomorrow morning, then go to sleep. But mostly to get some air as this whole thing was making me feel sick with anxiety, i needed to move, get out of this room...

**2 days until Z-day**

*Annoying alarm noises*

The alarm on my phone goes off, signaling me that it is time to get off my ass and get ready for school. Slowly, I got up to a sitting position and shut the annoying phone down. After that, I just stared at the wall in front of me for a while.

"I sorta expected to have a nightmare again, I guess I must have gotten thick-skinned"

I look to my right seeing the desk with all the papers.

"Right...Kohta-papers-guns-meeting"

I get up from the bed and head to the bathroom to wash up. Funny as it may sound, the bathroom was the only place I decided to not touch. Nothing was missing in there.

I quickly shake off any sleepiness I had with a couple of cold water splashes to my face. With that done, I grabbed the packaged food I bought last night and started preparing for school.

(So much junk food can't be good for me...)

I head towards my desk with the bun in my mouth, picking up a stack of papers that had a Mossberg 500 Cruiser Pump Action Shotgun printed on the front page.

That should get Kohta's attention so I can strike up a conversation with him. Wish I had a stapler to keep the papers together though.

I shove the papers in my bag that was sitting next to the desk and prepare to leave. Opening the front door, I am greeted with another sunny day... The calm before the storm as they say, I turn my head back to my apartment and look inside.

"2 days left, after that it's sink or swim."

Closing the door behind me, I head off towards the school, if all goes well I will end up with a new friend today… And god knows I need some good news in my life right now...


	3. Plans

**2 days until Z-day.**

(Alright, let's go over today's plan one more time.)

Right now I was standing next to the entrance of the school, looking at the building that was towering in front of me.

(My two main targets for today are, Kohta and the school's athletic equipment. I could start by looking around my class as I'm going to need a good location that I can easily reach to hide things that can cave somebody's head in. Maybe one of the unused lockers nearby? When the panic starts it will be easy to find an excuse as for why I had a weapon like a bat with me, not so much when it's a normal school day though. I will also stick with a normal baseball bat, cause you know what they say, don't fix it if it ain't broken.

Now the school definitely has baseball bats, since I remember Takashi using one in the anime, plus, I've also seen them being used in some school activities. Now, I have also seen the shed that teachers take the equipment to in order to store them. Problem is, they lock the door, so I will have to find a way to get in and 'borrow' a bat. Then get out without alerting half the school.

Going to the storage shed after the panic starts is also a big nope. It's outside of the main building and I don't wanna be stuck with the masses when they start to stampede towards the exits. So that leaves me to resort to… ughh, lick up to today's gym teacher and help him carry the equipment back to the storage, then find a way to get rid of him so I can 'work' in peace.

Now out of the usual people teaching gymnastics, we have the cult leader of the psychopathic perverts, and Mister zombie chow #1 aka Shido and Teshima. Of course there are other teachers that assist in P.E… but they will all be dead before the month ends and were never shown in the anime, so I didn't bother to learn who they were.)

With that thought in mind, I started making my way towards the side of the school to my left. PE classes were held there and the storage shed was also there. I had a little 'plan B' in mind, I just needed to check the storage building. If I'm lucky, I can evade the bootlicking.

After making my way through the track field next to the main building, I looked at the structure across it. It was not an impressive-looking, more like a run-down apartment really, about one and a half stories tall and made out of concrete.

After checking my surroundings to make sure I won't have any surprise visitors I walk towards the back of the shed. There was a small alley-like space here, probably 2 to 3 people could fit next to each other, between the shed and the school's cement fence-wall. I then walked into the alley checking the back of the shed for another way to enter inside. And sure enough, I found a window, wide-open and practically begging me to climb in.

"Well, guess I won't be bootlicking any teachers after all, thank god for that"

The window was a small one, probably 40 to 50 cm wide and on a height that even if I raised my arm and stretched out I could not reach it. I was about to drop my bag on the floor and jump to reach the window, when I heard the school bells ring out.

(Alright, I know how I'm getting into the shed, but I have no time left. All I need to do now is find a place to stash the 'tools' and I'm golden.)

Smiling to myself, I walk back out of the alley and head to class. On the way to my classroom, I kept an eye out for any location I could use to hide a bat… but no cigar. Other than my locker, there doesn't seem to be any easy to reach place for me to hide it. Trouble is, my locker is a bit too far for my liking.

Getting in the class and taking my seat I started thinking about my second target for today, Kohta.

(He's probably a go home club kind of guy and since he is still suppressing his anger for his 'normal life' as he calls it. He will probably still act meek. I do not know where his class is at, but there is only one main exit, the school gates. I can just wait there and 'accidentally' bump into him, dropping the papers about the shotgun in the process. I just hope that he won't get too startled, apologize and start running or something.)

While I was in my own thoughts, the teacher walked in and started the lesson. Not wanting another one on one with a teacher, I decided to pay 'attention' to the class…

So, An hour and some minutes later the bells ring out once more. It was time to get to work again.

Walking outside of the class I saw the staircase that led up to the roof.

(I could go and leave the bat on the roof, but honestly, I don't wanna be up there when Takashi and Co. gather. And while I got nothing against Rei, I don't want to deal with her self-absorbed hysteria. Plus, Takashi still likes her so I will let him have that hug. In other words, that's a no go for the roof.)

I kept moving around the hallway, but other than the occasional lockers, there was nothing else.

"Ughhh god-damn it, do I really need to put the thing in my locker?"

Putting my back against the window and giving off a sigh, I close my eyes and move my head around causing my neck bones to crackle, opening my eyes, I stare at the top of the lockers.

(The lockers are not tall enough either, putting the bat up there will still let people see it. Maybe I could just break my lock, then go to the teacher's office and tell them that my locker won't lock or something? Ask them to give me a new one, these lockers use number combinations, so they should have a book with the combinations for all the lockers somewhere. If I can take that then I can see the combination to a locker near my class… Hmm, yeah, let's do that.)

"At least the teacher's room has air conditioning"

I started moving towards my locker as I spoke...when something clicked in my head.

(Air conditioning...Air conditioning?...air VENTS! God why did I not think of that sooner.)

I dart my head around looking for anything that might look like a vent. Until my sight stopped at a small, rectangular metal covering in the wall. The air vents in this school were on the top part of the walls, and they were rather small. Still, they're perfect to hide a bat in. I then go back to my class and spot an air vent that was not too far from my class. Probably half a class away from my classroom door.

"Perfect, I could hide the bat in there. As for the screws, I can go to the room where Kohta made his handmade gun, they definitely got screwdrivers there. And i think I will keep it too, even unsharpened, I could still use it to stab zombies in the pterion… or whatever it's called"

With quick steps I head to the second floor, looking for any classroom that has equipment for construction, like drills, hammers and nails. 10 minutes in, I came across the said room. Lucky for me, it was unlocked too.

(Why do they leave this place unlocked in the first place? Saya and Kohta also just waltzed in if I remember correctly. Well, no need to look a gift horse in the mouth, time to find me a screwdriver.)

A couple of minutes later and several fake 'I dropped my wallet here' to evade the student's attention, I come across a long, flat-nosed screwdriver. Long enough to be used as a last-ditch effort weapon if needed. And the screwdriver's flat nose also means I could use it even if the screws were cross-shaped. Looking around to make sure nobody was looking at me, I then pocketed the screwdriver.

"yoink"

(I'm having way too much fun with this.)

I opened a hole in the inside pocket of my jacket with my new screwdriver and shoved it in its new home, then left like I just committed the heist of the century.

(Getting the bat and opening the vent while the school is teeming with kids and adults is not gonna happen. Either I sneak in during the night, or do it during club times. Meaning I got to meet with Kohta before doing any of this.)

The rest of the classes passed without anything notable happening.

After returning to class I left the screwdriver in my bag so I would not end up stabbing my guts by accident. Other than that, during the breaks I checked the shed window a couple of times to make sure it was still open. Until PE class arrived and the teacher who was to 'teach' us today was...

(Oh, is Teshima going to be teaching class today? Heh, thank God that the window is open. Means that I won't have to deal with that asshole when I'll try to get inside the shed.)

Looking around the school track, I realized that lady luck had just decided to be my best friend today, as Takashi's class also had PE right now. Meaning, Kohta was also here. I didn't know if i could use this to my advantage though. I mean, just staring at the pink-haired firecracker while she was dishing out poison to any unlucky person that blew her already short fuse made me a tad leery of approaching the other class. Takashi was not there, obviously. Rei and Hisashi were being all sweets and honey, to the point that my teeth started to actually hurt... Anyway, time to focus on my class for now, no need to get myself in trouble with Teshima.

Thanks to all the intense physical training I was doing, PE mostly felt like a joke now. So, by the time we were done, I had barely broken a sweat, and as the students started going to the changing rooms to wash up and change, I was standing there, wondering what to do.

(If I volunteer to gather all the balls and equipment to the shed, I could hide one of the bats in a bush and take it later to avoid all the shed window infiltration business. On the other hand, dealing with Teshima is… ugh.)

While I was thinking of what to do, I looked over to the other class, realizing that everybody had already left. Also, nobody seemed to be gathering all the stuff they had used, weird.

"SERPFAFIR IF YOU GONNA STAND THERE LIKE A DORK THEN START PICKING UP THE BALLS BEFORE I PICK YOU BY THE BALLS" Teshima yelled, causing some of my classmates to burst out in laughter.

(What an ass, wait, did he just call me Serpfafir? Get my name right you god-damn gorilla, it's Sepfier… I think. I mean it is my surname since last month or so? Well, you all gonna die soon anyway, so enjoy it while you can, asswipes. Well, so much about volunteering, guess I'm going with the initial plan after all.)

After picking up the equipment my class used and dumping them in the cart, I start making my way towards the shed, Teshima leading the way.

(I need to find a way to make the douche leave, think Naier, think.)

Reaching the shed Teshima unlocks it.

"Put the balls in the ball basket and the bats on the bat racks. Come on, get on with it Sepifer I don't got all day, I'm in a hurry."

(Don't got all day huh.)

I was trying very hard not to grin. As I walked towards the big basket that was filled with balls, I then 'accidentally' stumbled, falling on the basket. Then, there was chaos. Over fifty balls flying all over the place, bouncing to their freedom. I could now also hear Teshima's screams reaching some incredible decibels. He must have said my name about four times, all four times in different ways and all four of them wrong. I was honestly going to choke from holding my breath, cause I would definitely burst out in laughter if I tried to breathe.

"YOU GOD DAMN STUPID FOREIGNER! AGHHHHH, GET THE DAMN BALLS NOW, GOD I AM NEVER GOING TO LEAVE NOW AND KYOKO IS WAITING FOR ME."

His forehead veins had all popped out. The guy was truly, really, royally pissed. I would not be surprised if he actually lunged at me.

(Okay, to convince him to leave now. He did mention Kyoko, so maybe I can use her to get him to butt out.)

"Sir, this was my fault, you can give me the keys and go if you want."

"BOY are you fucking STUPID, why would I give YOU the keys when you can't even put a goddamn ball, IN A BASKET!"

"If I lose the keys it will be my responsibility. Also sir, won't you miss your meeting with Miss Kyoko if you stay?"

Teshima just stared at me, seemingly thinking, then after about 30 seconds...

"...You lose the keys, I will see to it that you get expelled Sepafier" Teshima said, throwing the keys toward me.

"Yes, sir" I responded as Teshima walked away in a hasty pace. And now, I was alone.

"...Ppffffftttt HAHAHA." I could not hold it in any longer. I was about to fall to the floor from laughing, like I just heard the joke of the day… A couple of minutes later, after I managed to get my bearings, I got up and started putting the balls in the basket. while eyeing the bats.

"Worth it, so fucking worth it." I still had a shit-eating grin on my face while I was picking up the seemingly unending amount of balls. As This was the last class for the day, it also meant I would miss Kohta. But, well, I still got tomorrow, and I regret nothing.

After about 10 minutes in, the balls on the floor had been reduced by half. It was then, that I saw a cart coming my way.

(Humm? It must be the guy in charge of cleaning after Takashi's class. Sure took their time, it must be at least 20 minutes since I started gathering the equipment in the field, wonder why they're so late...Oh god, I hope it's not Saya, or I'm gonna be hearing about how stupid I am for the next five minutes once she realizes I knocked the ball basket down. Then again, most people would be thinking that so, ughhh… guess I'm hosed.)

Once the cart got near, I could not actually believe my eyes. The one behind it was Kohta, seemingly looking down in the dumps.

(Holy shit, my luck today is off the charts. Now, all I need to do is make a good first impression, see if I can get him to hang out with me.)

After looking at the chubby guy for a bit, I walked out of the shed and called out to him.

"Hey there bro, bit late for the party, but come in, we got balls"

Kohta finally takes his eyes off his hands that are on the handle and looks at me.

"Huh, what… what do you mean?" he asked.

"Ehh, I kinda knocked over the basket with the balls and sent em all flying all over the place." I say while putting my hand on my hip and turning my torso to gesture into the shed behind me.

"Ohh." Kohta then looks behind me, seeing the remaining balls that were still on the ground.

"Still, had you arrived 10 minutes earlier, you would have had the joy of seeing Teshima sing opera, Viking helmet and all" I start chuckling from my own little joke after finishing.

"So, why are you so late anyway, if I didn't have my little 'accident' you would have been locked outside the shed."

"I uhhhh, I was… " His eyes darted left and right for a few seconds before looking back down to his hands.

(Huh? What sort of reaction is that? Was he stuck in the bathroom or something? Or… if I remembered correctly, Kohta mentioned in the manga that he got bullied by his class, so there's a chance they dumped cleaning duty on him so they could leave early.)

"They dumped you with cleaning duty?" I asked him with a straight face as I folded my arms.

"Uhh well, they… uh they didn't do that… I just."

(Yep, definitely got dumped with the job. Well, this can be my chance to get close to him. I got a good feeling about this, so time to put my plan into motion.)

"Heh, relax, if people did dump it to you, then they don't deserve your restraint, they deserve a twelve gauge in the kneecap from a KSG."

While I did do my research about guns, and quite a lot at that. I did not really know how rare, or exotic each gun was. So I just picked one that I remember having a good reputation with a fancy-sounding name and used it as an icebreaker.

Kohta looked at me for a bit, then looked back towards the shed.

"Actually, a shot from a 45 caliber gun would be better. It would not sever the leg like a shot from the KSG, but instead only break the kneecap, and most importantly not kill. A broken kneecap would cause the one you shot to survive, but they would feel an intense amount of pain. So much so that they would probably pass out. After that, they would probably need intensive medical care, which might still not be enough to actually completely save the leg as the shot could have damaged the kneecap beyond repair, causing permanent disability. A 1911 or a P227 should be more than enough to get the job done."

(...While I knew that Kohta was a gun nut, seeing it up close, is pretty amazing)

" I'm sorry, " After finishing his rant, he suddenly turns his head back down. Probably thinking that my silence meant that I disapproved of his comment.

"That. Was pretty amazing." I raise my eyebrow as I speak.

Kohta lifts his head and looks at me with a slack-jawed expression.

"You went from saying two words per five minutes to telling me an essay in less than ten seconds. Marked me impressed. I take it, you like guns?"

"Mhm yeah" he nods at me.

(Well I didn't expect him to go all starry-eyed and start talking like a maniac. But honestly, his second reaction is a bit more lackluster than I expected… )

"Well, while I enjoyed our little chat, I still gotta gather them balls over there" I point my thumb behind me.

"Ohh yes, of course." Kohta then looks back to his cart.

"Well the shed is kind of a mess right now, but you can probably put your cart in the back somewhere, as I have cleaned that spot at least. " I remarked to Kohta as I started going back into the shed, picking up the balls and putting them back in the basket.

"Hmm, ok i will do that" Kohta pushes the cart into the shed and starts unloading the equipment from it and into their respective places.

"Say, have you ever shot a gun?" I turned my head to him as I left the ball I was holding in the basket.

(I know that he had already gone off to the USA and trained with that contractor, but I just had a very crazy idea, and I liked that crazy idea.)

"Ah, yes, yes I have, I have practiced with multiple weapons actually" Kohta didn't stop unloading the cart while speaking.

"Interesting, tell you what. I know we just met like what, five to ten minutes ago? But you seem to be a cool guy and the only reason you ended up here is because some retards forced their work on you. So, how about I help you turn the day around?"

"No, it's ok I don't really mind..."

"Oh ok, I was going to head to the gun range after this, seeing how you like guns so much, I figured you would like to come along, but if you have other stuff to do I get it" I cut him off, trying to hold off my grin.

It must have taken less than a second before I heard the sound of something hitting the floor. I then turn my head around towards the noise and see that Kohta has dropped a wooden bat, seemingly frozen and staring at me.

"The… the gun range? But you're not 18 yet, you can't go there" Kohta's eyes were wide open as he spoke. I just smiled, putting the last ball back into the basket.

"Well normally yes, but let's just say that I made the gun range owner make an...exception, don't worry, no violence, blackmailing or anything unsavory" I say, raising my hands up.

"So, you in? Or am I going by myself?"

Kohta's eyes were practically glowing now…

( Now I know he wants to come. He is probably just trying to be cautious as… well he just met me what, 30 minutes ago? I just hope tha…)

"YES, I MEAN NO, I MEAN I'M COMING TOO!" He shouts before I could even finish thinking.

(Aaand, I probably just turned this into the most exciting day of the month for him, at least until the zombies decide to come knocking and he finally gets to let loose.)

"Alright, once we're done we'll go, I gotta return the keys to 'sir opera singer' first though. Wait for me outside the school gates. After that, we go ahead to the gun range"

"O...OK!" Kohta then just darted out of the shed.

(I don't think I ever saw him run that fast… He also forgot to put all his stuff from the cart back to the baskets. Oh well, I guess I will finish it for him. Also, With Kohta gone, I can go ahead with stea… I mean 'borrowing' a bat.)

I then grab a couple of bats and test them out, until finding one that seemed to be in top condition. I take it, and lock the shed behind me.

(As long as they don't decide to do an inventory count on the gym equipment tomorrow, nobody will realize this one is missing. Now all I need to do is figure out how I'll get this to the vent next to my class.)

I turn to look at the school from where I'm standing, silhouettes walking in the hallways.

(No good, there's no way I can take this bat up there undetected while also dealing with the screws on the vent. Guess I'll be coming to school again after it's dark. This is just a normal school after all, it shouldn't have too many guards, and the guards themselves might just be teachers.)

I nod to myself and hide the bat in a nearby bush, then head towards the school staff room in order to give Teshima back his keys.

After arriving at the staff room and giving the keys to the first teacher I saw, saying that they are for Teshima, I head to my class and take my stuff. I actually also waited for a bit in order to see whether I could just unscrew the vent now to save time. But it couldn't be done, a random teacher or student would occasionally pass, not giving me enough time to take a chair and climb up to unscrew the thing. So I just left it as is and went to meet with Kohta.

Upon reaching the school's front door, I saw Kohta waiting with his arms folded by the school gate, looking at the floor and occasionally towards the school's front door.

(Jeez, you don't have to look 'this' lost in space Kohta.)

I then walked out the front door and headed towards him. Once he raised his head again, I lifted my arm up to about head high to make him notice me, after I was close enough for him to see of course. No need to make a fool out of myself now.

"Hey there commando, ready to go shoot some guns?" I say to the guy while he starts smirking.

"Always, oh by the way, my name is Kohta Hirano" He responds.

"Naier Sepfier, well then Hirano let's get going. Oh and, you can call me Naier, my surname's kind of a mouthful." I say as I fold my arms.

"Alright, you can call me Kohta then." After Kohta finishes speaking, I extend my arm to him for a western-style handshake, which he returns.

"Well then Kohta, let's get going, we're walking there" I add as i nod.

"Ehhh, must we? I kind of... hate walking" Kohta then responds with one of his ever first lines from the anime, or well, the fact that he hates walking.

"Yep. Just think of the guns Kohta, oh and check this out " I say as I take off my bag, open it, and show Kohta the print outs that I had originally planned to use as bait.

"That's the manual for the Mossberg 500 Cruiser Pump Action Shotgun." Kohta says while looking at the picture of the shotgun on the first paper.

"Yeah I'm gonna be trying to shoot something like that today, or at least one of its versions. Check it out while we head there and tell me if there's something extra I should know about." I say while handing the manual to Kohta.

"Sure thing" That was all he said before becoming engrossed with reading the gun manual.

(I should make sure he doesn't get run over by a car or something...)


	4. Guns guns guns

**2 days until Z-Day.**

(I am having this weird feeling right now. The feeling you get when you see something that ought to be impossible, happening. Like seeing a person you never thought you'd see in your life or even a giant flying mecha that gives Newton the finger.

While I still get goosebumps every time I see somebody from the main 'cast' while in school, having Kohta walking next to me makes the sensation go to a totally different level. He's a character I always thought I would only ever see behind a screen, yet here he is walking next to me. I just hope that when I'll have to interact with the rest of the group it won't feel so weird.)

"Hey Naier, are we there yet?" Kohta asked while dragging his feet.

We must have walked a good thirty minutes since leaving school.

"Almost, about five to ten minutes or so." I say to Kohta while thinking about the gun range.

(The building is soundproof, so it could make for a good base post outbreak. As it would mask any sounds a survivor is going to make from the inside, but there's one problem. It is a shooting-range/gun shop, so everybody and my grandma will go there to get a gun. Meaning, it will be flooded with survivors before long, so there is a good chance this place will be either overrun, or house other survivors. That makes the place too unreliable to be placed in my priority list.)

"Hey Naier… are we really going to… you know, shoot any guns?" Kohta turns his head to me.

"Hmm, if you think that I might be lying then why did you come along with me in the first place? As for your question, yes we are going to have some target practice, don't worry." I say to Khota making a thumbs up gesture with my hand.

"Oh, s-sorry I didn't mean like that. It's just, you are being awfully kind, it's a little weird for me. Sorry." Kohta was now looking at the ground again, hands in his pockets.

"Don't worry bub, I have no intention of lying to you. But, words are just words after all, so the best way to prove my word is for you just see it for yourself. So, speaking of our future activity, are you a good shot?"

"ehh...I'm ok." Kohta said while scratching the side of his head.

(Ok, my ass. If you are half as good as what the anime portrayed you to be, you are either undermining yourself, or trying to catch me off guard.)

"Right… I'll keep that in mind. By the way, we're here." I turn my head around and point at a rather small corner building.

The building itself was plain, no signs or flashy big letters with the exception of a large window that took about half of the storefront. On the other side of the window were different types of crossbows and air rifles. Kohta eyed the display for a little, then opened his mouth to speak while I was looking at my phone.

"This is a..."

"Good time to take a break" I interrupt Kohta before he can go on a derailing gun rant again.

"We've arrived a bit faster than I expected. The gun range won't be open for the next fifteen minutes, so we have to wait for a bit. Anything you want to do till then?" I look back at the chubby boy while putting the phone back in my pocket.

"We can go inside and check the guns out, I bet they hid the better stuff inside." Kohta said as he was about to walk inside.

"We are not going inside yet, come on, let's go wait on a bench for now." I turn around and start walking away with Kohta following behind me, occasionally turning his head towards the storefront.

"But… but… the guns."

I sat on a nearby bench with Kohta following suit, he looked rather...sad. Then again this guy is addicted to guns and I just denied him his fix soooo, yeah.

"So how did you learn so much about guns anyway? I mean I like guns as much as the next guy, but you blow me out of the water with your knowledge on the things, at least that's the impression I got with that impressive rant of yours." I folded my arms and leaned back on the bench.

"...Well, I read about guns a lot. I also had a… friend that knew a lot about guns. He taught me for a while, he was also the reason I managed to shoot some as well"

(Friend? I'm pretty sure he never mentioned that he had friends in Blackwater USA when he said that to the group, or did he? Though I suppose he doesn't want to stick out too much by saying that he had training by a private military company in the US.)

"I see, well I hope he taught you well enough, you'll need it."

"I will?" Kohta was scratching his cheek, with a curious look in his face.

"You'll see what I mean soon enough don't worry about it." Turning my away from Kohta I started thinking about my plan for tonight.

(Once the sun is down I'll have to 'visit' the school, thankfully all my clothes are either black or… dark gray? So it should let me blend in with the shadows. I suppose that the guards will be holding flashlights so I should be able to spot them faster than they can spot me.

As for telling Kohta that he will need to shoot 'good' soon, that was actually with double meaning. Sure, one is for when the shit hits the fan. But the second one is actually for right now. If the owner sees Kohta shoot, and he is as good as he should be, he will be interested in a match, or I hope he will be.

The owner is a foreigner like me. Maybe it's also one of the reasons he accepted my offer in the first place, the other being that the paycheck itself was rather fat. Now, so far he kept his word and for one hour he'd let me use or check the guns out in the range, along with some boxes of ammo to use. All of that after closing time so other people won't see me. As that would only cause trouble both for me and him. He probably won't be too happy with Kohta being here today though. I could tell him I'll pay extra? Although that would be a lie as I don't have any more cash to spend, and he would want the cash right there and then.)

After ten silent minutes, I get up, gesturing for Kohta to follow me.

Arriving outside of the store I motion Kohta to wait and head into the store myself.

"Hey kid, last day you come here, as per our agreement" The owner glanced at me while he was fiddling with the register. He was of average height with a buzz cut haircut. His gray cargo pants covering his boots and a plain white T-shit on his torso.

"Indeed it is, but before we go on I got to ask you something" The owner hearing my request folds his arms and cocks his head to the side, gesturing for me to continue on.

"I have a guy with me that might be a better shot than you, interested in checking him out?" The owner instantly smirks a little at my statement.

"Ohhhh a better shot than me you say. Kid, I shoot here daily. Can I even take this 'offer' seriously?"

"Well how about this, you check him out right now, if he is good enough to prove a challenge, then you let us stay. If he turns out to be a fluke, I leave now and you can close the store early and go home, you already have the payment for today so you don't really lose anything."

The owner thinks for a bit putting his finger on his temple

"Very well kid, I'll bite. Bring the guy at the gun range downstairs and then get ready to go home early." The owner turns around and walks towards the underground range laughing at his own 'amazing' joke.

I walk back out to find Kohta twiddling his thumbs.

(If I didn't know better, I would begin to panic right about… now.)

"Well bud come on, it's time to sink or swim." I motion for Kohta with my hand to enter the store.

The moment he entered his eyes started shining, his head darting left and right like an excited puppy to all the guns on the displays. While Kohta was busy with that, I was changing the door's front sign from open to closed and locking the door with the key that was on the knob.

"THAT...THAT'S THE REMINGTON 870." Kohta shouted before he ran to the other side of the store.

"AND THIS… YES THE BENELLI NOVA… THEY EVEN HAVE SOME WINCHESTER 1300 AND, AND, AND."

Before Kohta could blow up like a hype bomb I started moving towards him.

"You can stay here and drool over the hunting shotguns if you want, I'm going downstairs to see some real guns."

I guess the word 'real' struck home as Kohta snapped out of his gun fugue and quickly followed me.

Heading downstairs we reached a glass door with the gun range on the other side. It was not too large, with stands for 5 people, and a range long enough to effectively be a challenge if the targets were in the farthest part of it. Next to the range was a small room with a desk and some chairs along with a small tv for spectators and a locked door on the back of said room leading to the range's armory.

I walked through the glass door and the owner turned to see me, his face slowly turning to a frown.

"Is this your idea of a joke kid? You told me you found a GUY, he's a god-damn school kid for god's sake!" His eyes narrowed as he stared at me.

"And my offer still stands, let him take one shot, if he's not good enough we leave. You save ammo and you can go home early." I respond as I fold my arms.

(I hope he takes the offer, since he has all the right to refuse the challenge and just send us all home. But, I was hoping that he would at least give me this much as it was my last day here anyway.)

"Ughhhh… one shot kid, no more. If this turns out to be a joke, you two will leave immediately." He puts his hand on his forehead while covering his eyes, exasperated.

"So Kohta you up for it? If you want to shoot more than once you just have to..." I didn't manage to even finish my sentence as Kohta had moved past me.

(Ohh boy is Kohta in spec ops mode because the owner said he can actually shoot?)

"Show me what I'm going to use and what I'm shooting."

(Yep he's gone full commando, and not the no pants type one.)

The owner snickered a bit and moved to the range with Kohta following behind him, his eyes slowly widening when he saw the gun that he was supposed to use.

"This is a Remington Model 700, personally customized by me. You got one shot chubby, farthest target, surprise me." After handing Kohta with the gun, the owner walked back to me with a shit-eating grin on his face, we then headed towards the chairs in the spectator room.

"Well kid it was fun working with ya, but you should learn not to make bets with things you don't understand." He then puts his hands on the back on his head with the grin still on his face, waiting for Kohta to take his shot.

"This is a Vortex Optics Viper PST with a custom stock and a custom body made out of carbon and fiberglass. I need to calibrate the scope to make sure my shot will find its mark, the stand here does not have any bipods to place the gun while I aim. So, I will have to crouch down and use the stand itself."

Kohta was mumbling to himself as he moved himself into a crouching position while fiddling with the scope...that mumbling though, seemed to have caught the owner's attention, as he was now staring at Kohta, his smirk slowly disappearing.

"That kid, he knows what he's doing, he has used a gun before?" The owner asked. Judging from his expression, I'd say he was starting to take the bet seriously now.

"Yes. I did tell you that he's a good shot. Did you forget? Now, it was my turn to grin.

"I'm ready." Kohta, now in a crouched position, turned to look at us with his hand in the air in a thumbs up motion.

The owner nodded and Kohta lowered his hand, placing his finger over the trigger. He looked through the scope once more, and a couple of seconds later, he pulled the trigger.

The owner's eyes went wide as he looked at the screen.

"Bullseye on his first try… " He then got up from his seat and walked towards Kohta.

"Not bad chubby, guess your friend was right to trust you. It's a challenge then" The owner then turns to me.

"Ok kid, he can stay. We'll have that match." He nods as he looks at me, then turns his head back to Kohta.

"Well, let's see what you really got chubby."

The owner takes the gun from Kohta and heads towards the locked room, unlocks it and goes inside closing the door behind him and locking it back again.

I get up and walk up to Kohta, who had left the stand and was walking towards me.

"Good job." I slap Kohta on the shoulder lightly.

"Ehehe, thanks... Man I can't wait." Kohta then took a seat and looked at the screen.

"Well, now I can officially say that I have kept my word, no?" I lift one eyebrow while looking at Kohta.

He turns his head back to me, smiling.

"Yea and right now I'm very glad I actually came along, thanks Naier."

"Don't mention it."

The sound of the back door unlocking caused both of us to turn our heads. The owner walked out of the locked room with three unmodified Remington 700 with him and three small bags of ammo.

"Alright kids take your positions, I'm going to wipe the floor with ya." He hands both of us a gun and an ammo pouch and then goes back to lock the door while we head to the range and get ready.

"This match will be for as long as you are here, meaning it will last for forty-five minutes. We will have a five-minute break every fifteen minutes to check scores and restock if we run out of ammo." With that, the owner picks his gun and points at the target with it.

"We will be aiming at the furthest targets on the other side of the wall, bullseye will be a hundred points, each circle around it will be twenty points less the farther it is from the bullseye. So 80 for the nearest, 60 for the one after and so on and so forth. The gun holds 4 rounds, three in the magazine and 1 in the chamber. We'll each have 50 rounds to use, I'll be surprised if you manage to use it all though. Get ready we start on three"

After taking some ammo from the bag and placing them in easy reach all of us took our guns and took aim. The owner was standing upright, Kohta was using his previous position and I used my elbows to balance the gun on the stand putting my cheek on the stock.

"THREE, TWO, ONE"

"FIRE"

Sounds of gunshots echoed in the soundproof room. I had no idea how I was doing since the target was rather small from this distance, but I got to admit. I was having fun.

*15 MINUTES LATER*

"Time up, guns down!" Shouts the owner.

After the first round was over we left the guns and headed to the spectator room to see the targets and checked our shots.

Owner : 4 Bullseye, 14 second circles, 12 third circles, 7 fourth circles, 0 on the fifth circle to a total of 2540.

Kohta : 13 Bullseye, 20 second circles, 0 third circles, 0 fourth circles, 0 on the fifth circle to a total of 2900.

Me : 11 Bullseye, 6 second circles, 2 third circles, 0 fourth circles, 0 on the fifth to a total of 1700.

I looked at Kohta, who had a wide grin on his face.

The owner was actually smiling as well.

(I guess he did find the challenge fun, huh.)

"Kid, you're falling behind, chubby here is leaving you in the dust." He snickered as he turned to face me, I laughed a little through my teeth.

"Tell me that when you're winning, you're still in second place."

The owner heads back to the locked room with hasty steps and comes back with another bag full of ammo.

"Refill your ammo pouch with this, after that we go for the second round" The owner hands us the bag.

I took the bag first as I was the farthest away, then gave it to Kohta who then gave it back to the owner who, after refilling his pouch, headed back to the door and left the bag inside.

"Alright ladies on your posts we start on… three, two, one, fire!" The owner shouted the count down once more and the guns lit up again.

(Honestly, I do not expect to do any better now, getting bullseyes means that my aim is good enough to hit a dead man in the head from a good enough distance. That's what I need right now.)

Keeping my eyes on the target I continue to take shots, reloading the gun after every time it empties.

*15MINUTES LATER*

"Time's up, guns down!" Shouts the owner once more.

Kohta and the owner quickly walk back to the room to check their scores with me following behind them.

OWNER : 9 Bullseye, 17 second circles, 4 third circles, 6 fourth circles, 0 on the fifth circle to a total of 5280 with the last round's score added.

Kohta : 16 Bullseye, 14 second circles, 0 third circles, 0 fourth circles, 0 on the fifth circle to a total of 5620 with the last round's score added.

Me : 13 Bullseye, 9 second circles, 1 third circle, 0 fourth circles, 0 on the fifth to a total of 3780 with the last round's score added.

"Well chubby, looks like you were worth the challenge, you actually won. We have five minutes left but I don't think I can pass over you now." The owner was smiling while looking at the screen.

"And kid, what did I tell ya about being too slow, you fell way behind. Your score is just sad" He turns to me folding his arms, still smiling.

"Well if I could be as good as the pros with so little training it would be cheating no?" I lift my hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"Huh whatever, I did not expect us to make so much of a mess so I will have to ask for you two to leave now, I'll have to clean this place. Take it as your friend's prize that I'm not making you gather the cases. Now shoo get outta here."

The owner points at the door with his finger.

We both nod and start heading towards the glass door, after Kohta is heading up the stairs I turn around and speak up.

"We can't lock the door from the outside so you might want to come and lock it." The owner stared at me for a bit.

"Yeah, you're right. Just go up I'll be there to lock the front door in a bit" He leaves the bag he had on his hands and looks at me.

"Very well. Also thanks for taking up my offer, both now and when we first met." I say to the owner while nodding.

"The paycheck was good, now get out of here kid. I have to close shop." He points his finger once more towards the stairs behind me.

"Gehh, way to ruin the moment, sir-ass-sir" I turned around, laughing while walking up the stairs. I think I heard the owner laugh too?

Heading back to the front of the store I looked at Kohta who was drooling over the shotguns again.

"You just can't have enough, can you" I say to Kohta while moving to the door, unlocking it.

"Nope." He starts moving towards the door as well, his head still turned to the shotguns.

After we both exited the gun range, I took a deep breath and started walking. Motioning Kohta to move along.

"He told me he will be up in a bit to lock the door, so we can just leave." I turned to look at Kohta.

"So had any fun?" I ask.

"You kidding, that was amazing. Most fun I had in ages." Kohta says happily while he clapped his hands together.

"You know. If you are coming here again… could you, you know… let me join again?" He asks as he turns to look at the floor.

"Sure thing." I answer.

(Sure thing… sure thing. Wish I could do such a thing but in two days we'll be running for our lives. Well… at least the 'shooting guns' part is going to happen again i guess.)

We continue walking for a couple of minutes till we reach an intersection.

Kohta then stops and looks at me.

"Well, I'll be going this way. My house is over that direction so I guess we'll split up here" Kohta points at a road to my right that climbed up a hill.

"Alright Kohta, take care." I held out my arm. After he looks at it for a few seconds he smiles and grabs it for a handshake.

"By the way Naier, the owner of the store… what's his name?" Kohta asks as he lets go of my arm.

"Oh, I… got no idea, he never told me" I raise my arms and shrug.

"Really, he lets you use the gun range, yet he didn't tell you his name?" Kohta tilts his head in confusion.

"He doesn't know mine either. We had an agreement but that didn't make us buddies." I lowered my arms down and looked back at the gun range.

(I still wish him the best of luck for what is to come though. Even if he did take all my frigging money.)

"Anyway I should get going too, it's getting a bit late. The sun won't be out for a couple of hours but I still haven't even opened a book to study today" I say to Kohta, which causes him to react in the expected fashion.

"CRAP YOU'RE RIGHT, HOMEWORK!" He screams as I nod at him. I turn around and start walking down the road, as I hear running footsteps behind that slowly started to fade away.

(Wonder how long he will be able to run up this hill… Well whatever, I got my own 'homework' to do as well.)


	5. Night raid

**2 Days before Z-day, Night.**

A couple of hours have passed since I left Kohta and returned to my apartment, and the sun was out. Meaning, it was time to put plan two into motion.

I was sitting by my desk, with the computer playing a random song. On the desk, the equipment I was going to use for my 'visit' at the school.

"Screwdriver, two belts to wrap the bat around my leg so I don't have to carry it on hand, a half-face mask, gloves and a flashlight. I'll only use the flashlight in case of an emergency though, as it will be a dead give away that there's a person sneaking about."

I got up from the desk and went to the wardrobe taking out a black jacket with an attached hood.

(If this jacket was leather it would look way cooler, but ehh too noisy. My shirt and pants are already black so no need to change them. Wearing army type boots would look cool as well but the soles on them are too hard, my steps will echo from miles away. So I'll stick with the field hunting boots I have as they have softer soles.

Now the guards in the school are probably actual guards and not teachers, don't think guarding the school is on their payroll. Well, maybe they would be if the school was cheap, but it's not, so I better go expecting actual guards. Although, it would be fun to meet Shido in a dark corner...but that scum would never volunteer for guard duty even if there was one.

Now getting in the school grounds will be easy enough, just jump over the fence. Getting in the school building itself, will be more tricky. The doors and windows will probably be locked, so I got to think of another way to get in. For that, I have three possible plans in my head at the moment.

The first is, waiting until a guard unlocks a door and then somehow managing to get in with him.

The second is, checking the nurse office window, betting on Shizuka's clumsiness that she might have left the window unlocked and nobody locked it after her.

The third plan is, to climb to the first floor via the bridge-like structure that links the school buildings together, although there is a chance that the doors there will be locked as well.

Now, I shouldn't go there too soon, the longer the guards do their shift, the bigger the likelihood of them loosening up and making a mistake. There's a reason the saying 'we attack at dawn' exists.)

I decided to take a small break from overthinking my plan and went outside to get something to eat. With the slight hope that some bright idea might come to me while I'm taking a stroll...

Taking .my keys from the desk I leave my apartment complex and head to the nearest convenience store

"It's funny if you think about it, after the outbreak I might start eating better..."

Reaching the store, I got in and bought the most expensive bread the store had to sell.

"I don't think I'll be able to eat tomorrow after the sun will be out, so here's to my last nightly meal me. Don't choke on it." I whisper to myself as i exit the store.

In the end, I returned to my apartment without any great new mind-boggling ideas, so, I started getting ready for my little infiltration... After putting the black jacket on, I shoved the gloves, half mask, extra belts and flashlight in my pant's pockets. No need to get myself arrested for looking like the stereotypical burglar after all. I then sat on the chair to put on the boots. Looking at my computer screen, I noticed the date and time.

1 Day before Z-day.

"Midnight, the last day with no brain munching corpses has begun… Anyway, got to focus on the task at hand… It is going to take me a good thirty minutes to get to the school, so if I leave now I can go and spend some time checking out how the patrols work, or if lady luck will bless me again, find an open window."

I get up from my chair, take the screwdriver and conceal it in my sleeve, then grab the keys and head out.

Before leaving my apartment, I decided to leave my keys under the front mat.

"Too noisy to take them with me, so just in case, better leave them here."

I nod and start making my way towards the school at a slow pace.

(It's not cold out tonight, that's good. I don't want to freeze my ass over while I'm scoping out the school.)

Walking down the dark silent road I start thinking about tomorrow.

(I wonder whether I should try to make contact with Saeko or Saya tomorrow… Because, I got to admit. In the anime, I liked those two the most. Still, even thinking about interacting with them makes me kinda nervous… Huh, no point in thinking about it. I'll worry about it once the sun is up, got to focus on breaking into the school right now.)

While heading towards the school I thought about all the parkour practice I have done and the videos I've seen. Along with all the methods I read up on silent running and muffling movement, I shouldn't have any real trouble avoiding the walking dead.

(Knowing how to vault over a fence or climbing a tall wall will be very helpful, both now and for what is to come. A lot of my physical training was actually leaning towards learning how to do that, rather than building up muscle mass so I could swing things around like a gorilla. As being able to swing efficiently and have more 'escape routes' is far more important than being able to swing around rebars. I just hope that I won't end up face flat on the floor when it counts, don't think I'll be able to muffle 'that' sound.)

Because of my slow walking pace, getting to school actually took almost an hour.

After finally arriving at the front gate, I check the other side, but see nothing. I then move to the front gate doors and give it a push.

(Locked, obviously.)

I then start walking around the school, following the fence while looking for anything that could be used as a blind spot so I don't end up looking like a flag when I'll vault over.

After looking for a while and finding no obvious blind spot, I decided to just jump inside from around the location of the school's equipment shed.

After making my way to the back of the school where the shed was located I take out and wear the gloves and half mask then pull up the jacket's hood.

(Time to go ninja mode.)

I toss the screwdriver to the other side through the gap of the metal bars and grab the top of the fence, jumping and pulling myself up until the top of the wall is at my hips, then hold this position as I try to figure out how to get over the fence without slamming the ground.

(If I vault over I'll end up landing noisily on the other side. Can't do that, I need to get used to being as silent as possible when I'm not in a hurry. So I should just pass my legs over and lower myself.)

And so, I passed my legs over the fence, spinning myself in the process, and with a last look at the streets outside, I lowered my body until my feet touched the ground. Then, I went to a crouching position.

I grabbed the screwdriver and ran behind the shed and looked over at the track, and then across the track at the school's windows, making sure that there weren't any spectators.

(Now the real boss battle begins, first I need to check the bushes to see if my bat is still there. No point doing anything else if the first step is already a bust.)

Still crouching, I moved towards the bushes near the shed. After reaching them, I looked around at where I had hidden the bat earlier.

(Good, it's still here.)

I picked up the bat, took out the two belts from my pocket and used them to wrap the bat on my thigh. Afterward, I headed near the school's wall in order to walk alongside it, so I won't be visible to any guards that were inside the building. Like that, I start heading towards the main entrance.

(No guards so far, hope they don't appear on my face all at once.)

Before reaching the front entrance of the school I move away from the wall at a location with no windows over me, and head towards the nearby trees.

(Got to thank whoever thought that this school needed so many bushes and trees. Half the school is surrounded by greenery. Still no sight of any guards though.)

With the cover of the vegetation, I move to the front entrance of the school and lie down near a bunch of bushes. With my cover making sure that I wouldn't be seen by any passing guards, I started scoping the front entrance of the school and the hallway where my target, the vent, is located at.

(Alright, now I have to wait for a bit, I got to see if any guards pass over the hallway and if any of them will exit the front door or… Well, now that I think about it, if this place has any guards at all.)

And...Twenty minutes passed in total silence...No patrols, no flashlights, no nothing. So, I got up and started moving towards the door. After reaching it, I gave it an experimental push.

(Locked, if the place is really empty then breaking a window is the only way. I'll do that as a last resort though. Even if I'm about seventy present sure that there are no guards around, better be safe than sorry.)

Screwdriver in hand I start moving towards the nurse office.

After some minutes I reach my target location and check the window, only to find it locked as well.

(Locked. Out of all the things you had to be punctual with Shizuka, this had to be one of them… Well, back of the school and broken window it is then.)

As I start making my way towards the back of the school I spot a flash of light over the corner.

(Holy Shit!)

I dart my head around looking for any possible cover, spotting another patch of greenery. I move away from the window and silently run behind a tree then go to a prone position so I can hide behind the bushes.

The light turns over the corner and illuminates where I was a second ago, slowly making its way across. I also got a good look at the guard while he was passing by. He was a short chubby guy, and while I couldn't make out his facial expression from here, from the way he was dragging his feet, he didn't look very excited to be here.

I decided to follow behind the guard while still staying behind cover. Until we were near the front entrance again, there I saw another flashlight illuminating the dark field.

(A second guard, are they going to change shifts? I'll have to watch them from a distance, being too close while both of them are there could end horribly for me.)

I stopped tailing the guard and took a wider approach. After picking up enough distance to feel comfortable with, I lay down on a sloped hill, to use as cover as I checked on the guards.

From this distance I couldn't make out the second guard's appearance very well other than that he looked average. After the two guards met up and spoke for a bit, the second guard then handed the first one something and started going in the opposite direction from which the second guard arrived from. The first guard then walked to the front door pushed it open and after closing it, he locked it from the inside.

(It seems that there are at least two patrol routes, one inside the school itself and another on the outside perimeter. After finishing their round, the two guards then meet in the front entrance and switch routes, and from I can see, switch keys. )

(Hmm, wait, the door wasn't locked when he went inside...If they don't lock the door while they wait to change routes I could sneak in then. Hmm, there's a slope to my left that continues up to the left side of the building's entrance, and then some. There's also a staircase passing though that slope, for people that want to head on towards the field to my left, that's also the route the second guard actually took. So, I can just go there, then head straight and hide next to the wall of the main building, until the guard exits.)

Putting my plan into action, I walked stealthily to the slope to my left before sitting tight in my new hiding spot. Waiting for the second guard to come to a full circle while also checking for any signs of the first guard passing through the hallway I'll have to be at. After the second guard made a total of two rounds, I saw light coming from the targeted hallway.

(The second guard is making his rounds faster. It has only been twenty minutes, and he is on his second lap. The first guard on the other hand took about twenty minutes to do one lap as I didn't see him when I was waiting here before.)

Five minutes later, A light came out of the main hallway. The first guard strolled up to the front door, unlocked it and headed outside. He then sat on the bench near me, his back turned to the slope. After that he took out his phone, plugging his ears with what seemed to be earbuds.

(I was going to wait until it was his turn to be inside the building again, but this is just too good to pass up.)

I silently got up and started walking straight. Once I closed in to the bench that the guard was sitting on I slowed down and walked past the guard while he was too busy singing along to something I couldn't really understand. Yeah, that's how bad his singing was.

After I passed by the guard I kept looking back every few steps until I reached the wall. What was next was the ten most slow seconds in my life, up until now at least...I made my way to the door while walking sideways, my eyes drilling holes into the guard's head.

(if he raises his head and looks left, I'm toast.)

After reaching the door I opened it and moved backward with my full attention on the guard. Once I was through the door I slowly closed it, all the while making sure that the bat would not accidentally hit anything. The moment the door closed I took a few more steps backward until I could turn around the corner. With the guard out of sight, I turned and walked down the hall to my right, in the direction the guards use when they start their round. With that hurdle out of the way, I started thinking about the vent, especially on how to reach it.

(Usually, there is a chair under the staircase in this hall, probably used by the janitor when he or she is on a break. I'll use that to reach the vent.)

Getting to the staircase, I find no chair, only a broom and a mop along with a bucket.

(Damn it, no chair. But, hmmm, that bucket should be able to give me enough height to at least unscrew the bolts. I just hope it's going to hold my weight.)

I picked up the bucket, making sure it had no water in it, and headed up the stairs. After going to the second floor I started moving faster while keeping my eyes on the entrance downstairs. The guard was still there, sitting on the bench. In other words, the other guard was not there yet. After a couple of minutes of light jogging, I made my way to the vent near my classroom. I took one final look outside to see the guard still sitting there.

(Good I got some time.)

I take the bucket and turn it around then place it on the ground. Afterward, I carefully place my foot on it, trying not to put my weight on the center of the bucket. After a few checks with my foot, making sure that it wouldn't collapse under my weight, I stood up on top of the bucket, the vent now within my arm's reach. So Screwdriver in hand, I start unscrewing the vent's bolts. After taking off the two lower bolts and pocketing them, I unscrew one of the top bolts and then slightly unscrew the fourth, letting the vent come undone, but still hanging on the last bolt.

I then undo the top belt on my leg and take the bat off of my leg to put it inside the vent. I slowly placed the bat, first to limit any noise it might make touching the metal vent. Second, to actually make sure there's enough room for the bat, as it was too dark to actually see inside the vent.

(It would be funny if I did all this only for the vent to end up being shorter in length than the bat. Or worse, if the vent went down vertically and the bat fell in...)

Luckily,no such calamity happened and I was able to put the whole bat inside the vent. So with the bat safely hidden inside the vent now, I placed the vent cover back in its place. I then started to screw in the vent cover. Only to realize halfway through that I really don't want to be busy unscrewing a vent on Z-day. With that in mind I screwed in only one bolt, the one horizontally across the partially unscrewed one, after leaving the two extra bolts inside the vent. That way the vent looked normal, while I could also easily unscrew it on Z-day.

(This should hold it for now and tomorrow, meaning today, will be the only day that it really has to go unnoticed.)

Getting off the bucket, I tightened the belts on my leg. Looking outside I saw that the guard on the front door was gone.

(The second guard should be inside the building now.)

Leaving from the main exit is a bit risky now. I better exit the building from a back window on the first floor.

(I have not seen how this guard does his rounds inside the school. So for all I know is that he walks fast. In any case, I better go to the staircase and wait there. If the guard ends up using the stairs I'm on, I should then be able to hear him or even see him, if so I can just go to a higher floor until he climbs up and leaves, then I can go down the stairs.)

Making my way to the staircase, I go halfway up the third floor and stay there for a few minutes.

(I should actually go up a level and wait on the stairs that lead to the roof if. I don't have to risk the guard coming up behind me that way.)

Plan in mind, I climbed up the stairs until I'm halfway to the roof.

(Ok, this is the third floor, so, if the guard passes here it will be either to check this floor or to go down towards the exit. In both situations I can go down after he leaves and leave from the back side of the school.)

With that, I buckle down and wait, until I could either hear footsteps or see a light from a flashlight.

About ten minutes in, I start hearing tapping on the stairs. I close my eyes and focus on the footsteps. The tapping starts getting progressively stronger...and then, starts to slowly weaken.

(Ok he is leaving. Or he is suddenly walking very silently for some reason.)

I peek over the stair's railing half expecting to see a face staring at me, its eyes wide open and a joker like grin.

(I watched too many horror movies.)

Seeing the stairs empty, I walked down to the third floor to find it empty as well. I then steel myself and start walking down the stairs to the second floor as silently as I could, the bucket under my arm. About halfway towards the second floor, I stop to check whether the guard is near. Finding no one around, I picked up the pace and walked down to the first floor. Reaching the ground floor I crouched down and moved to where I took the bucket from, leaving it back in its original place before heading towards the back of the school.

After reaching a hallway where I could see the fence that led out of the school and no sight of the first guard, I checked the windows. Some of them were actually fused with the frame but some of them could be opened vertically by pushing them.

(My exit is right ahead of me, but I shouldn't start acting sloppy now. I must leave no trace behind, that includes unlocked windows. While there's a good chance that nobody will even realize it, as I said no need to get sloppy now.)

I took a closer look at the window's lock as I kept thinking… And as luck would have it, the lock seemed to have a peculiar look to it.

(An automatically locking mechanism? I need to check this out)

I find the first locked window, unlock it, push the window open, then close it back.

A short 'click' could be heard as the window fitted back into its original place.

(The window can be locked from the outside, nice.)

I unlock the window once more, open it and slide outside. After I got out I closed the window, hearing that satisfying 'click' once again. I then turn around and silently start running towards the fence. Once I was near it I tossed the screwdriver on the other side again, climbed the fence and vaulted over to the other side.

Landing on the other side I take the screwdriver from the ground. I then took off my half mask and removed my hood after I checked my surroundings, then, I broke off into a dead run, sprinting as fast as I could away from the school.

I kept running for about...five minutes? My only target being to avoid people. After finally reaching a distant alleyway, I stop, look back and take a deep breath.

"Ninja mode, off, beep."

I turn around, exit the alley and casually start heading towards my apartment.

(And with that done all that's left to do is… to get ready for tomorrow, oh boy...fun.)

After about thirty minutes, I made it to my apartment.

I pick the keys from under the mat and dust myself off to get rid of some of the dirt I had on me from all the bush hugging, then headed inside and instantly threw all the stuff I was wearing to a bin, then took a bath.

(I still got more clothes to wear and I'll probably be stuck with my school uniform for a while. I could say that I was feeling cold and wore two shirts underneath, but that's about it on clothing.)

After finishing my bath and changing to some new clothes I sit on my chair and turn on the screen of my computer. I look at the time...and give off a heavy sigh.

"Three a.m. I should be able to get four hours of sleep at least."

I let off a yawn, get up from the chair and fall straight on the bed...falling asleep in a matter of seconds...

The computer screen still on, ticking away the minutes to Z-day like a reverse countdown.


	6. Calm? before the storm

**1 Day until Z-Day, Morning.**

***annoying alarm noises***

...

***annoying alarm noises intensifies***

...

Five minutes later, another alarm starts going off.

***The most annoying sound in the world arrived to provide backup for the annoying alarm noises***

The ear-piercing medley of sounds made me jump on my bed. My phone, the piece of technology responsible for that unholy sound, laying right next to my ear, going off in full volume… I forcefully silenced the alarm while simultaneously glaring at the screen in front of me.

"Ughhhh… who's the idiot that had the bright idea of putting 'that' as an alarm..."

-FOUR HOURS AGO-

Laying on the bed while looking at the alarm's configuration on my phone as I try to decide on an alarm tone.

"There's no way I'll be able to wake up in four hours just from the normal alarm. Sadly, it seems I'll have to resort to some headache inducing methods."

-RIGHT NOW-

"...oh..."

I put my hands on the temples of my head as I tried to massage the headache out of them.

"I was right about waking up at least… and of getting a headache."

I groggily get out of the bed and head towards the bathroom to splash some water to my face in order to wake up…

After almost drowning myself in the sink I head out of the bathroom and sit by my desk before looking at the computer screen.

"Last day of peace huh, or at least it should be if the outbreak starts the same day it did in the anime… though, now that I think about it. Even if it doesn't happen, I'm still in as deep shit as ever."

Shaking the morbid thought out of my head I get up from the chair and get dressed in my uniform so I can head out.

"I'll have to get something to eat on my way to school. I also need to figure out what to do there as I have no plans for today. Probably some last minute physical training. What with Kohta and hiding a weapon at school I've been neglecting it somewhat. Not that one day of training would do much at this point, but the more the merrier...Hmm, I should also decide whether I should try to make contact with the rest of the group without looking like a creeping weirdo... Yeah, good luck with that me."

I put the screwdriver in my bag, so that I don't end up somehow forgetting it home during Z-Day, then pocket the keys and head out of the apartment.

After making a brief stop at the usual convenience store and buying something to eat, I continued making my way towards the school.

"YAWN… ughhh… I'm getting sleepy again. I'll fall asleep in class like this."

On my way to school I decided to keep my eyes open for any signs of unusual disturbances. Sirens blaring, emergency vehicles rushing by, or even a panicking pedestrian, really, anything that could be used as proof for a sign of what is about to come.

"What could be considered a sign though? If I were to meet a shambling corpse, then it would be too late too matter. And if I start seeing cop cars and ambulances sprinting left and right that would also mean that it's too late"

Giving up as fast as I started, I stopped bothering to look for signs of an upcoming zombie apocalypse and picked up my pace.

Once I made my way to school I went to my class and slumped down on my desk.

(There is one more thing I need to figure out, and that is if this whole thing follows the anime timeline of events or the manga.)

I close my eyes, focusing on one small detail I had noticed so far concerning the matter.

(If I remember correctly. Takashi ,in the manga, stayed on the roof when he skipped class. In the anime on the other hand he stayed on the stairs instead. And I've seen him one to many times wasting away at the stairs so far. Plus in the manga he didn't look THAT dejected about Rei. In the anime, he looked much worse. So, considering how dejected he looks right now, along with his predilection of haunting the stairway, it's two points for the anime, and zero for the manga. The last nail that will decide what will eventually happen will be tomorrow. If Takashi meets Morita before the outbreak, then it will probably follow the manga's line of events. If he is on the stairs again and Saya is the one that meets with him, then it will probably follow the anime's course.)

After I stopped pondering about tomorrow. With my eyes still closed, I started to nod off, at least until the bells rang out, indicating that the class is going to start. Forcing me to open my eyes.

(Got to stay awake, can't get in trouble with the teachers again. Even if this might be the last day they can really do crap about it)

What followed is an agonizing hour of fighting off my urge to just hit my head on the desk and go to sleep, until the bells finally rang out again, indicating that the class was over. Many of the other students then got up from their seats and went their own way, be it alone or with their friends. After the class was almost empty I finally got up and left the classroom.

I walked by the vent to make sure it was as I left it last night, then passed by the stairs to see if Takashi was still there. And yep, like clockwork, sitting there, moping about. I'm not gonna bother him though, figured talking to him would return me with nothing again, so I left him be.

(This break is too short for me to go to the gym and do anything worthwhile, so I should wait for the next period's break as it's much longer. I'm also too sleepy to think of doing anything else, so I'll just aimlessly walk around and see if there's something else I can do.)

After strolling about in the school for some time, the bell rang. Signalling me that I have to prepare myself for another hour of trying to keep myself awake. With that cheery thought in head, I trudged back to class...

It was...in the middle of the lesson when I got an idea that I would probably have thought much earlier if my brain was not on a strike at the moment.

(I could just go and hang out with Kohta today...He probably won't mind, and it will help me interact with him on Z-day. Not now though, as I'm going to run some laps at the gym to wake myself up.)

After I decided on my next plan of action I then got back into trying to keep myself awake, while also trying to make it look like I'm actually paying attention to class.

(I just hope the teacher won't ask me anything because I'm hearing jack of what he is saying right now)

And, an hour then passed, with the teacher thankfully ignoring me. So once the lesson was out, I got up, picked up my bag and then headed straight to the gym.

While I was on my way to the gym, I peered into my bag

(Spare shirt, check, water bottle, check. Hmmm… actually, I should bring some extra clothes in my bag tomorrow. Using the excuse that I was planning on going for a run right after school if anybody bothers to ask. I don't want to stay in my school uniform for more than I have to, and I'm sure that the guys don't change clothes in Rika's apartment. Hell, I don't remember if they even actually wash them, as you never see them wearing anything else. Then again, they would probably smell like ass if they didn't, and the Humvee doesn't have the best ventilation system… Actually, didn't Alice pee on Takashi that one time? Yep I'm pretty sure she did, so Takashi should actually do, smell like ass… Maybe that's the reason why they took turns sitting on the roof… pppfft.)

While I found the thought of the humvee smelling like piss funny enough to have to hold myself off from laughing, the students that turned their heads to me after hearing me, did not seem to agree with me… Not that I expected anyone to actually know what I'm thinking about. So, I straightened my jacket, ignored the soon to be dead people and picked up my pace.

(Smooth going there, me.)

Arriving at the empty gym I put my bag down and look at the inside of the gym. My eyes then fell on the banner, the one that two days ago caused me to start freaking out about 'why' I was here.

(It might be because this is the last day before shit hits the fan. Or because yesterday I had a change of pace from my usual routine by hanging out with Kohta. But I don't feel like losing my shit right now… The calm before the storm as they say, no?)

Getting my head into the game, I looked at my phone to make sure that I had enough time to do some laps before the next bell. Nodding to myself after looking at the phone's clock, I then proceeded to put the phone inside my bag and started running around the gym.

(The increase in my heartbeat and blood flow should wake me up. And if not, then I'll probably end up tripping and planting my face on the gym floor. The impact after that will wake me up for sure. Win-win either way.)

Ten minutes in, and I could feel my head beginning to clear up.

(Good, seems to be working. By the time I'll have to head back to class, I'll be wide awake.)

While I was jogging around the gym I started thinking about tomorrow again.

(Tomorrow, same time, I'll probably be running for my life. Or well, running might be an overstatement. If the zombies are blind like they should be, I'll probably be walking very silently rather than running at full speed, unless of course, something catastrophic happens...other than the dead rising to eat to living that is. Hum, At the very least it won't be that hard for me to navigate through the school as long as I'm quiet, and thankfully, being quiet is something I was always good at.

As for fighting, I still pray that the dead do have fragile skulls, rather than Takashi and co being able to swing with the force of a truck. If the worst comes to shove, I'll just focus on knocking them down and then escaping. If they are as slow and dumb as they looked in the anime and manga, I'll have more than enough time to act after they get disoriented once they hit the ground.

Countering shouldn't be that hard either. As long as they don't grab me I can probably outmanoeuvre and trip them up. If I can, for example, grab one by the outside part of their arm, I should be able to just yank it away from me, or even move behind it without letting it block me off by 'hugging' me… Well, all of my musings and planning only counts if the zombies actually have the same attributes the anime portrayed them to have. Otherwise, I'm about to be caught unprepared and I'll probably end up very dead, very fast.)

As I finished ruminating about the very close future, I heard the bells ring, signalling that the next class was about to start. I stopped jogging, and headed to the bathroom after picking up my spare shirt from my bag. After I fished changing shirts, I headed back to class.

(The next couple of lessons have short breaks so I could go find Kohta and see what he's up to. I just hope that he won't see me as a walking ticket to a gun range now.)

The next two lessons passed by normally, with nothing unusual happening other than the occasional jackass making fun of how I was spaced out yesterday after PE.

And after the lessons finally ended, I went towards Kohta's class, which I now knew the location of as he told me so yesterday. In order to see if he's there.

(Great, now I'm feeling nervous again.)

I was halfway down the stairs and was about to go to the hallway where Kohta's homeroom is when I noticed a purple haired girl walking on the hallway in front of me.

(Saeko?… Scratch my previous worries. NOW I'm nervous… Fuck, what do I do? I can't just walk up to her and be all like 'Hur-Dur Ello Lets Be,Friends, Because, I KnoW YoUr SeCrEt.. Yeah, I can see that happening. Damn it, who knew it could be so hard...speaking to people you never thought you'd meet)

"Hey you're blocking the way. Move"

(At best she will think that I'm some kind of creep, and at worst she'll go all sadistic yandere on me without the dere. Well, the anime portrayed her as a kind, cool and collected person even if she was partly faking it. So I don't think I'll be having her bokken landing on my head… At least not here, with other people around. Not sure what will happen to me outside of school if I botch my charisma roll though.)

"HEY STUPID ARE YOU DEAF!?"

My shoulders jerked upward after a shout from behind startled me, causing me to slightly jump in place. I turned around to see who else but the other person I'm the most nervous at interacting with, Saya… and she looked royally pissed. Her hands were folded under her chest and her face was locked in a rictus of fury with a piercing glare.

(Shit)

"Sorry didn't mean to hog the stairs." I moved to the side as I apologised.

"Ughhh."

That's all she said as she stormed past me.

(Well, I fucked up. At least I met Saya… ? Though now I wish I hadn't. Good job, me.)

Looking at the hallway again, I see Saya entering a classroom and Saeko was nowhere to be seen.

(Well, Saeko is gone and Saya is in the same class as Kohta. I really don't want to go in there right now.)

So, I go down the stairs, turn the other way around, and head towards the exit.

(That went smashingly...)

After making my way outside, I sat on the nearest bench while taking a small bun wrapped in plastic out of my jacket's pocket. I have not eaten yet, as on the big lunch break, I was at the gym.

While eating, I aimlessly scan my surroundings for something to get my mind off the day, and as 'luck' would have it, I spot Rei with Hihashi being all couple-like nearby. Then, I turn my head around and look back at the school, scanning the school to look for the place where Takashi usually sits, moping.

(Yep, there he is...and I think he is staring at those two right now?…My condolences dude… But I still think that you're a fucking lucky bastard.)

I then looked back at the couple.

(Still, I know that Rei is still interested in Takashi. So what the fuck is she doing?)

Finishing my bun I get up and head back towards my class.

(Girls are fucking weird I tell ya.)

After making my way to class and slumping on my desk, I took a look outside.

(It's funny though… Do I really need a god-damn zombie apocalypse to somehow manage and interact with the rest of the cast? I really do suck at this socializing thing don't I?)

Sighing at my inability to 'man up' as the tryhards would say, I turn my head back to focus on the blackboard and decide to not do anything particular for the rest of the school day. With that in mind, I stayed at my desk with a glassy look in my eyes until all classes ended. Until the final bell rang out, signaling the end of school.

I got up from my chair and walked out of the class, passed by the vent again to make sure it hadn't been spotted, and then headed towards the exit, when an idea hit me.

(Oh wait, I could call Kohta and ask if he wants to hang out.) I take my phone out, but instantly I hit a roadblock.

(Right, I never asked for his number. It would do no good even if I did though, as my phone has no sim card in it… ughhh)

I put the phone back in my pocket and continued walking. After reaching the main gates, I looked back at the school.

(Tomorrow, I must either be with Takashi's team or be dead.)

With that morbid thought in my head, I turned around and walked out of school.

***HALF AN HOUR LATER***

Not long after I arrived home I was sitting on my chair, looking at an online map for a sports shop.

(I do have some cash left over that was meant for food that I can spend on something else. So, if I go on a last shopping spree today and tomorrow nothing happens, then I can officially say I'm royally fucked.)

The idea that I might have got the date wrong then passed by my mind.

(No, I know I got the date right. I remember the exact date of the outbreak, or at least the day when the zombies reached Fujimi High, because I used that same date on one of the games I played as a starting date for the ingame outbreak as well. The date of the outbreak was actually shown on the TV Takashi and co used to see how the media reacted to the zombies in the staff room, so I should have the correct date down.)

I get up from the chair and print a list of the things I want to buy, along with a map of the city for the last leg of my preparations.

(Bandages, a better, more comfortable bag, a navigation map and food that will last at least until tomorrow night. The school does not have a strict regulation on bags, so I'll be able to take the better bag with me tomorrow. And by better, I mean a bag that does not have any metal parts dangling about and I can firmly secure on my back, so it will not move around when I run or climb.

I'll just use the excuse that I was planning to go Parkour running right after school, so no one would raise an eyebrow as to why I brought a different bag, along with a change of clothes and bandages. I'll also put the field hunting boots and my gloves in it so I can wear them after the panic starts.

Now, the bandages I can buy from any pharmacy, and use them as minor protection on my hands from scratches or to avoid any infected blood from getting into a cut.

While never shown, I don't actually know if only the saliva is infectious. Saeko, being a close-range fighter, and 'occasionally' going bat shit crazy on the zombies, should have had blood splashed into her mouth or eyes more than once. Yet, nothing happened to her, thankfully. So maybe it's only whatever is in their mouth that can spread the virus? Perhaps it's because the dead don't have any blood circulation so there is a chance that the infection is only in their head? Uhh, anyway, I'm wasting daylight now.

A map is obviously needed for when Takashi and Rei get split up from the rest of the group, so we can decide on a meeting point. In the anime, they picked the police station but met on the bridge that linked the two parts of the city together by sheer dumb luck. And from how the characters moved afterward, I can say the police station is on the other part of the city, over the bridges.)

After pocketing whatever cash I had left, I took my keys and headed out. The sun was still out, the day looking as great as ever, for now.

I start jogging towards my destination, occasionally picking up speed as a last minute exercise.

First, I stopped by a sports store to buy a bag. After a little time spent searching, I ended up with a black tear resistant bag that had no metal parts other than the zippers, along with two extra belts that went around the lower part of the chest and waist. I asked the employee if I could wear the bag to test it out.

The moment the employee nods at me with a 'yes', I put on the bag, checking if it fits me and how easy it is to get something from the side straps without taking it off, along with how much it shakes if I run in place...and yes, the employee did get confused when he looked at a teenager play-jogging in his store.

(This is big enough to hold all the books I have, along with my boots, a spare change of clothes or two and some extras, like a phone charger, a small pistol, or something of that size. The two sides got belts that will be perfect to strap on a bigger gun or whatever close range weapon I might end up with. The fact that I can also grab whatever is on the sides without taking the bag off is a definite plus. Now, the extra 'outside' pockets where I could fit ammo, clips, or other need to get fast materials like bandages and such sold it to me. Me likes this bag.)

I make a thumbs up motion to the employee that he returns with an awkward smile. He also asked me if I wanted to buy a compass, flashlight and a swiss army knife, as I said that I will be going on hiking trips with this bag. Which I'll admit, made me feel stupid that I didn't think of buying em myself.

(Thanks mister employee.)

After taking off the bag, buying it along with the extras and then putting it back on, I head off for my other two targets. That swiss knife cost me like half the cash I had left though. At least it does seem to have a crapload of things on it … is that, a magnifying glass?)

Second place I stopped by, my favorite convenience store. Where I bought enough food to last me until tomorrow night.

(Last time I get to visit this place. The poor employees will probably have a hard time tomorrow with all these glass walls slash windows. Good luck, you'll need it)

After wishing the clerks good luck in my head, I start heading towards a pharmacy. On the way, I also passed by an electronics store that I looked up on the net.

(I was thinking of buying a solar power bank but the H.A.N.E, or High Altitude Nuclear Explosion to the layman, will probably fry whatever circuitry it has in it. While a H.A.N.E, after reading about it online, should not be as lethal as it was in the anime, I cannot risk it. Maybe the explosion will be near us or maybe H.A. in this world are more effective. Whatever the case, I should spend what cash I got left on something that will be useful at a hundred present rate.)

Leaving the electronics shop behind, I stopped jogging and started casually walking until I reached the pharmacy.

Going inside, I asked the clerk to give me two rolls of white bandage. After I finished paying for them, I left the shop to find a nearby place to sit down.

(What else could I bring with me to school… that wouldn't look too weird at least?)

I then imagine myself showing up to school in a fully plated, heavy knight armor, great sword and crossbow attached.

"I was aiming to parkour with extra weight for a challenge."

(Yea right.)

I chuckle to myself, get up and set my course back towards my apartment.

As I was now walking, instead of jogging, it was taking me way longer to head back, and the sun was slowly losing its bright shine, signaling that the day was slowly ending.

(Last day is almost over… I expected that I would be freaking out like a squirrel on coffee right about now. Yet, I'm weirdly calm for some reason. I just hope I won't wake up with the outbreak banging on my door. Maybe I should go and keep my favorite night guard some company today as well… Yeah not a good idea. Don't want to be sleepy tomorrow. Although I doubt the adrenaline will let me feel sleepy even if I don't sleep at all tonight.)

Looking at the town around me, I couldn't find anything amiss, nothing to tell me that tomorrow the world will go to shit.

(Wish I had an emp resistant yacht with an unlimited power supply, a fridge with infinite food and an unending collection of video games… heh.) I chuckle to myself once more.

Once I reached my apartment I headed inside, placed my new bag on my bed and filled it with what I will need for tomorrow, along with some books to test out how silent the bag was under heavy load. After spending a good hour testing the bag and finding it to be worth the cash I paid for it, I took it off, opened it and looked at what I have packed.

The clothes I packed inside were a jacket with a hood, a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of pants that would be comfortable to do stunts with. Along with a change of underwear and socks.

(After I end up with the team, hopefully, I might be able to switch into more tear resistant clothes like leather. But for now, this will do.)

Feeling that I spent enough time fussing about the bag, I left it on the bed and headed to my computer.

Looking at all the files I had saved in it and recalling all the time I spent preparing, along with all the decisions I have made…Yea...not good for my mental health

(Come on, I'll be fine. I can climb walls, I can swing wooden sticks very strongly and I can shoot with metal sticks pretty accurately. I'll be fine… for the initial part of the outbreak at least.)

Truth is though, I didn't spend too much time researching on how to survive long term. Maybe I didn't really care? Maybe I didn't think that I would survive that long? It didn't matter now. I made my choices and the curtain was about to rise, the play, about to start.

(You know what? fuck it. Tonight, I'm going to watch movies, I'm giving myself a break.)

I pick a list of zombie movies that would last up until midnight. I felt a bit stupid that i wanted to watch zombie movies right before the actual zombie apocalypse but ehh… fuck that too.

After hitting the play button I slump in my chair and fold my arms.

(Wish I had some popcorn.)

Letting the next few hours slip by me unnoticed. I watched what will soon become my reality. After that, I ate my last meal for today, brushed my teeth and went to sleep. And for what might be the last time, I feel asleep in my apartment. Right as the clock hit Midnight.

**Z-Day.**


	7. At the gates

***Same old annoying alarm noises***

...

I was sitting on my bed with my phone in my hands, looking at it as it kept ringing.

"Woke up before the alarm sounded off... Guess I'm a little on edge after all huh."

The shutters on my windows were half closed, what little sunlight that invaded the desolate room was not doing the room any favors either. I stretch and close my phone, then head towards the bathroom to wash up.

After splashing some water on my face I look at myself in the mirror.

"Huh, I should be looking much worse knowing what is going to happen in a few hours."

I return to the living room and open my computer, sitting on the chair in the process.

**DayZ**

"Seven AM, going to leave earlier today. It would be really lame if I got caught by the outbreak while I was heading to school. Shame that the stores only open after ten here, I had second thoughts about buying a solar power bank… But ehh, not that I have any money left. Oh well, what's done is done"

I spin my chair around till I'm looking at what I prepared last night.

"Bag" I get up, reach for the bag and then open it. Doing a last check to make sure I was not missing anything.

"Extra clothes, check. Swiss knife, check. Map, check. Compass, check. Flashlight, check. Screwdriver, check. Bandages, check. Food for today, check. Yacht keys... One can always dream."

Closing the bag, I throw it around my shoulder, take my keys and walk next to the tower of my computer.

"My friend, I'm afraid that's all the time we got left." I then unplug the computer, open the case and take out the hard drives, go to the sink, open it and throw them in. About twenty seconds later I picked them back up, thoroughly soaked, and walked to the front door of my apartment, opening it.

"Last time that I see this place. If the outbreak happens, I won't be returning here for obvious reasons. If the outbreak won't happen, I'll have to go and find myself an abandoned island, then make friends with the trees and monkeys, or face debt charges…or worse. I really dug myself into a goddamn hole didn't I. Maybe I'll go find Saya and ask her to call me stupid"

I shake my head and turn to glance at my 'house'.

( Today my future is going to change to either running from zombies, or running from the Yakuza... I find running from zombies more appealing right now to be honest.)

I walk out my apartment and follow the street towards the school. To make my future a fait accompli, I also threw my apartment keys to the first trash bin I ran into, then threw the hard drives in a different trash bin.

I then stood over the bin for a few seconds.

"A moment of silence for my two terabyte 'homework' folder."

I let out a small chuckle and hurry on my way. To be honest, I didn't feel safe on the streets right now. I wanted to reach the school as fast as possible.

"Won't it be ironic if I end up being the undead that is banging on the school gates?"

Apparently my brain did not appreciate the joke, as I got the sudden urge to start jogging, so I can reach the school faster. So all it really took for me to be in front of the school gates was fifteen minutes, half of my usual commute time.

After reaching my class and leaving my bag on the desk's side that was facing the wall, I sat down. I then spent several seconds staring outside, thinking what exactly I could say if anybody asked why I put all that crap inside my bag.

(Parkour might explain the change of clothes and bandages, but the amount of food inside along with the swiss knife and flashlight seems more reasonable if I was going camping or something. So...parkour camping? Or I can say that I was aiming to do a marathon, a very long marathon.)

I then turn my sight back towards the class, looking at the kids that were chatting among themselves.

(Wonder if any of them will survive.)

That was all I was able to think before the bell rang, with the teacher coming in a few minutes later ,causing the class to quiet down.

(Sorry, teach. But today my eyes will be stuck on the gate. I don't even care if it gets me expelled today. It's not like I will be staying in this school either way.)

As the class went on, all I did was indeed stare at the front gate.

(I will not only have to find a way to be out of class to check where Takashi will be at while Teshima gets bit, but I must also be able to get back in my class before the panic starts. As I really don't want to be in the hallway when every single student in this school will have the bright idea to run in a panic like a headless chicken.)

The first class passed normally. Nobody appeared at the gates and nothing seemed to be out of place.

Walking out of the class I passed by the vent, giving it a quick glance. Making sure it was still unbolted before returning back to class for the next period.

(The whole thing is supposed to happen in the middle of a class... but I don't know which one. The undead guy on the gate was dressed like a businessman, so he probably got attacked on his way to work and ended up here. If he was attacked after he was in his office, he would probably have stayed there as a zombie as he would not be smart or mobile enough to wander outside. Other than by falling outside a window or something. Yet, other than looking like he just pulled nine all-nighters straight he didn't look hurt, the giant chunk of his back missing excluded of course.)

And with that thought, the bell rang again, signaling the second lesson's start.

(If it's going to happen, then just happen dammit, waiting for it is not doing any good for my mental health.)

As the second lesson was in session, I could not help but start thinking what I was going to do if the outbreak didn't happen.

(I wonder if I'm able to use planes and ships to travel alone at my age. 'I' was sent here by my school as an exchange student based on what I saw in the school documents that I had with me.

Maybe...I should have learned how to drive a boat. Better chance of escaping people by sea rather than land, add that japan is a frigging island. Hm, Most boats do have a steering wheel though, and I do know some basics from playing video games. Like that the throttle can look like the one that planes got and...well that's all I actually know, can you hot-wire a boat?)

A loud thud jerked me out of my thoughts, the noise actually came from right in front of me, from the window beside me. Looking at it, I saw that it had some chalk dust on it. Looking down, I saw chalk, broken in pieces.

I turn my head to see the teacher glaring at me.

(Great, just, great. This is exactly what I need right now)

The teacher must have been bored of doing his lesson because he asked me to stand up and go to him, before he started an annoying monologue about… I don't know, I didn't really care about it to actually sit and listen to what the teacher had to say to be honest.

Between the teacher's loud monologue, the smirking students and my own state of mind, I had just about enough.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

That's all I said as I walked out of the class.

(That… might not have been my best idea, but I'll make it work. I can still keep a watch on the front gate from somewhere else. If the dead man appears I don't think the teacher will have a lot of time for chewing me out before the panic starts.)

With that thought in mind, I headed towards a hallway with a clear view of the front gates, that was also near the stairs I usually see Takashi at...

About thirty minutes passed with my eyes locked at the front gate. I had long since stopped thinking, as it was only going to give me a headache in the end…

Until, something happened… not the zombies sneaking on my ass, thankfully. Loud footsteps coming from my right. I turned my head to see Saya walking with her usual pissed off attitude. She just stormed passed me while stomping her feet, I think she didn't even realise I was there.

(Wonder what set her off this time.)

I then turned to my left, looking at her as she stomped away.

(She would pester Takashi that he was skipping class, yet completely ignore me. I guess she only bothers people she likes huh.)

And a few seconds later, it hit me.

(Wait, didn't Saya also skip class to speak to Takashi in the anime? And the way she just stormed off now… she looked like she just had an argument.)

(SHIT!)

I spring myself off the wall and break into a sprint towards where I just saw Saya walk away from… the stairs.

Stopping at the top of the stairs, I see none other than Takashi. Staring at the gate. And...I knew what he was looking at, I knew this scene by heart. The scene that has become etched into my head and only got reinforced by the time I spent panicking over what's to come...

'It' has begun.

I looked at the gate myself, for a final confirmation.

(The dead. They are at the gates.)

I did a full u-turn and started running to my class as fast as I could. While I knew I had time before the panic started, as Takashi had enough time to rush to Rei. I just felt that I need to be fast, very fast.

Reaching my class I slam the door open, startling some of the students that were seated near the door. The teacher looked at me with the scowl of the century, and some students started giggling again. Ignoring everything, I move quickly to the back of the class, grabbing my desk and pulling it further towards the back, pretty much shoving it into the corner of the classroom.

The teacher narrowed his eyes as he looked at me.

"We will have a chat once the class is over" Was all he said before he continued his lesson.

(No we won't...)

It was weird, but all the anxiety I have felt up to this moment since waking up today had vanished. The moment I saw the first zombie back there, confirmed what was going to happen and what I was going to do.

I even felt some relief to be honest. Relief that everything I did so far was not in vain… or that I will not end up in jail or the bottom of Tokyo Bay…

While I was busy preparing myself the speakers in my classroom crackled alive.

(The panic is going to start any minute now.)

I looked at the speaker that was installed on the ceiling, near the front exit of the class.

A voice, probably a teacher's, started ordering the students to evacuate, only to be suddenly cut off. Then, the speaker once again went live. Only this time, it was broadcasting the teacher's last moments as he began to panic in the AV room, shouting for help. Until he let out a scream, and then silence.

Looking back at the teacher, I see him frozen in place, the chalk on his desk slowly rolling towards a free fall.

(So, this is the class I was actually in.)

Was all I managed to think as the chalk hit the ground, smashing into bits, acting as the signal for everybody to go bat shit crazy.

You know in the anime you never think about it, but the sudden change from dead silence to everybody screaming at once is deafening. Like the school itself had started screaming along with the students. Morbid as it is, I couldn't think of it as anything else but the ringing of a lunch bell for the zombies.

Pandemonium ensued in the class as the students and the teacher alike started running towards the door, smashing into each other. Each one trying to scream louder than the one next to them.

And just like that, the class was empty. Only me, myself and I… and the screams from beyond the wall.

I slowly got up from my desk, picked up my bag, strapped it on my back as well as I could, then headed to the opened door, and closed it.

I turn around and look at the class.

(I will check if I can find anything of use here while the sea of death passes outside my front door.)

I go over some of the bigger bags, hoping to find something that might be of use…

Sadly, most of the bags had nothing interesting inside, aside from one that had a cell phone which I picked up and turned to a silent, non vibration mode.

(Taking out the battery to remove the SIM might lock it behind a password, so I should just keep it like this, in case I need loud distraction later.)

I pocket the extra cell phone, then grab the nearest chair and head to the door, opening it slowly.

I peek outside at both directions of the hallway. Seeing the hallway empty, with no blood splatters or bodies littering the floor I opened the door completely and then, with chair in hand I went to the vent. I place the chair under the vent, take the screwdriver out of the side pocket of my bag and unscrew the last screw that was holding the vent cover. With nothing holding it in place, the vent once more fell to the side, hanging by the last bolt. Reaching inside I grab the handle of the bat I painstakingly hid.

(All this to hide a bat...why can't I be in America? Sneak myself a minigun and rocket launcher...)

Bat in hand, I looked around me before pulling it out of the vent completely, then stepped down the chair. With the screwdriver back in the side pocket I once more scan my surroundings. I could still hear screams all around me. but they seemed different now, they were not the screams of panic. They were screams of fear...

The hallway was still empty, clean. Yet when I looked outside the window I saw a massacre in full display. People getting thrown to the ground, pinned down by groups of walking corpses, fresh blood being splattered all over the place. While the ones still alive used others as bait so they could escape. Worst of all were the people that died, only for them to come back and bite whoever was unlucky enough to care for them.

I let a huge breath out of my nose and walk towards the end of the hallway then look over the corner.

The hallway I was looking at now had a staircase in the middle, linking the floors together. Next to the staircase, I could see a student on his knees, next to another student who was on the floor. I could only see half of the body of the one that was on the floor, with the rest of it probably being on the staircase, which I could not see from the angle I was looking from.

I did not need to see the other half though, the pink line of flesh I could see going from the fallen student's stomach to the mouth of the one that was kneeling on top of him was enough to make me understand what I was looking at.

I was prepared to see some gruesome stuff from here on out, but I guess the first time is never easy. The fact that the first gruesome thing I wind up seeing is a corpse chewing on somebody's guts ain't helping either.

(Good thing I haven't eaten anything yet. My stomach would be throwing one hell of a party right now if I did… Still how should I call these things anyway? I have been jumping around names until now… Maybe I should just call them 'them' like the cast?...Hmm, nahh, too weird to use...I will stick with corpses, for now at least.)

Hitting myself in the forehead with my knuckles, I try to focus on my next plan of action.

(When Takashi was on the roof, it was already crawling with corpses. Meaning the corpses must have already overrun all the lower floors to also be up there.

And seeing how the staircase is being used as a dining table right now. It could mean that that has already happened. The reason why the hallway I'm in is clean is because nobody had a reason to run here, or didn't manage to, for now anyway.)

I go over the corner and walk towards the snacking student, his chewing getting louder as I get closer...

After I closed in enough to still be out of leaping range but have a clear view of the stairs I stopped.

(The stairs are clear, only these two are here. I guess the one on the floor tried to climb back up and got caught. Or he was running down and bumped into the one that is now snaking on him, seeing that his legs point towards the stairs and he's belly up.

No matter, now that I got only two potential walking corpses here, it's the best time to check if a hit to the head is enough to stop them for good. Or if it'll just get them pissed off and turn me into a lunchbox.)

With that in mind, I lift my bat slightly and grab the handle with both hands as I silently side-step towards the kneeling corpse. Once I was within swinging range of the corpse, I lifted my bat higher to the side of my head. And with a slight turn of my upper body, I swung down...

With a rather loud thud, the bat makes contact with the head of the chewing corpse, sending it sideways and then flat against the wall, smashing its head from both sides.

The body stays like that for a few seconds before sliding forward, falling down and stopping once and for all.

I turn my head and look at the second body that was on the floor.

(No time to celebrate yet, this guy will probably get up as well.)

I take a few steps back and wait. All while looking around me to make sure the sound did not attract anything. A few moments later, the second body started twitching, and then rose to a sitting position.

(Alright, now to test out just how smart these things are...I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm letting this one get up...I must be going mental, because I'm not freaking out right now.)

Using my bat I give it a quick poke in the back of the head and quickly take a big step back.

(Nothing, no reaction. Just like Saya theorized.)

That experiment over with, I started my next one.

I lift my foot and then bring it back down on the floor with enough strength to make an audible sound, then walk a few feet away so I'm not in the way.

The sitting corpse reacts to the sound as it lethargically turns its head to where I was a few seconds ago. It then slowly starts stumbling to a standing position and shambles to where I had struck the floor,then passes it and bumps into the window.

(And they are either blind, or insanely stupid. It just moved past where the sound originated and into the window beyond it. Meaning it just picked the direction the sound came from and followed it until it found an obstacle to hit into… or bite into.)

There were more things I wanted to test out, but I didn't want to push my luck. Not now at least.

I silently walk close to the zombie that was now making out with the window and take a swing at the back of its head with only one hand, my good one.

The impact of the bat causes the window to crack and the zombie to stumble backward onto its own guts that were on the floor, causing it to slip and fall down. It then started shambling about on the floor.

(Not dead, but it does seem to have trouble getting up.)

I jerk forward and bring the bat down to the dead guy's head, causing a splatter of blood to appear on the floor and him to finally stop moving.

(I still don't understand how they could track Takashi and his team later in the anime. They were actively chasing them in some cases. Maybe they can actually sense heat like Kohta theorized? So after linking a sound with a heat source they will go after the heat source with a fervor instead?)

Scratching my head, I turn to the stairs, to see that trouble has arrived. The sound of my bat smashing against the second corpse must have attracted some of the corpses from downstairs.

(They are dumb enough to get easily tricked, yet they are smart enough to understand that a sound came from a floor above them, to find the stairs and then climb them without falling over… ughhh...or they were already on the lower part of the stairs..)

I sigh in my head and move away from the stairs. Then begin walking down the clear hallway, with each of my steps making splashing noises.

Must have been the blood I stepped on as my shoes were starting to get rather noisy as I walked.

(Right. Time to change footwear.)

Still standing, I take my shoes off using my feet, bend over, grab them and throw them in the direction from which I came from causing any corpse that was heading towards my way to turn around.

I continued walking with only my socks for a bit until I was far enough from where I threw my shoes to feel safe. After taking a look around, I take off my bag, unzip it and take the plastic bag that had my boots in them along with my gloves.

(Boots over stuffy shoes any day.)

I take the boots out of the plastic bag and wear them. After folding the plastic bag I put it back in, closing the bag and strapping it back on my back.

Then I put on the gloves and test my grip on the bat.

(Not bad. Now to figure out what to do next.)

I glanced at the window to see the sun was still out, going strong. Then continue walking straight in the hallway.

(Takashi and Rei will stay up on the roof until the sun begins to set. Meaning that I need to find a way to survive until then, as the group will not meet until sunset. I could try to find Saeko or Kohta. Both are still alive wandering the school right now, with Saeko probably going ham on any poor meatbag that approaches her and Kohta being needled by Saya.

Now, the only time Saeko was shown before the group met up, she was going down a staircase, meaning she's either on the first or second floor right now. She then would end up in the nurse's office that is on the first floor, so she probably went from the second floor to the first. Saya and Kohta are also running around from what looked like probably the second or third floor.)

While I was in thought I heard moaning coming from in front of me. Two corpses were shambling towards me, or towards my direction at least.

I narrow my eyes and put my back against the wall on the side, while holding my bat from each corner with one hand so I can use it as a shield if one of them lunged at me.

As the two corpses shambled passed me, they didn't even seem to realize that I was there.

After they moved away, I got off the wall and started walking.

(This is not good, I'm going to get surrounded if I let these two walk and find more of these things ahead of me.)

Realization in mind, I stop in my tracks and turn around, then walk to the two shambling corpses in front of me…

Using both hands, I take a swing on the side of the head of the one that was near the wall causing its head to be smashed between the bat and the wall, making it fall down with a thud.

The second one, hearing the sound, moans and turns around to me, only to be met with a sideways swing from a bat to the side of its face before it could completely turn around.

Stumbling, it moves a few feet forward and then falls down. Moments later, it puts its hands in a push up motion as it tries to get up. I walk up to it and stomp my foot on its back, causing it to fall flat again, and in a quick motion, I raise my bat and swing it with a golf swing-like motion on the downed corpse, blood once again painting the floor red.

(Well, I suppose this verifies that they are more brittle than a normal human, or I swing like a truck like the rest of the cast.)

That over with, I turn back and head down the hallway again.

Turning over the corner after the hallway ended, I found another flight of stairs. To my surprise, they were empty, or more precisely the corpses there were all dead , like dead-dead.

Closing in on the staircase I hit the floor with my foot trying to make sure that they are actually dead and won't try to surprise jump scare me. None of them reacted, but still just in case, I took a long way around them.

I head on the stair's railing and lean on over it, looking down in the process.

(If Saeko had passed through here, then I'm too late. In the anime the first floor is like a dance floor full of dead people in the early hours.)

I give an annoyed sigh.

(I can't risk it, I will have to go through them just to check 'if' Saeko went on the first floor or not.)

I leave the bat on the floor and lean on the railing even more, trying to look up this time.

"Nope, can't see jackshit."

(Can't see anything from here, but I don't have much of a choice, I need to pick my poison. This hallway leads to a dead end, going down is just stupid, going back is pointless as the stairs there had corpses, moving ones. So the only way to go is, up.)

I push myself back, pick up the bat and start going up the empty stairs.

Thankfully I met no resistance going up the stairs. While blood and guts were splattered all over the place, that was all there was here. Nothing that would like to check how warm my insides were , are around.

I reached the top of the staircase and checked both directions of the hallway.

The third floor had some unwelcome guests scattered around.

(Most of the corpses are kneeling down and seem to be occupied with eating, so I should be able to walk past them.)

I was about to move to the right side, as it seemed to have less of them, when on the window of the opposite building, I saw two figures.

(Pink hair on a face that is probably frowning and a chubby guy probably looking depressed.)

I smile to myself and turn to look at the hallway that would make me cross paths with them,the left one…

My smile disappeared when I realized which part of the hallway I had to go through.

(Of course, it had to be the one that had more of them… But I can't miss this chance. I might not get another one.)

Steeling myself, I take a deep breath and start moving down the corpse filled hallway, which was made a lot worse by the fact that it also had moving ones…

So, I kept sidestepping to a corpse free wall, waiting for the ones that got too close to pass by before continuing.

(I am a ninja, I am a ninja, I am a ninja. If I get spotted I am a dead ninja.)

Everything was going fine and I was about to be out of the corpse-filled hallway. Until a corpse had the sudden urge to just do a full turn around and walk right into me.

The moment it was too close for comfort I didn't even think. I jumped back hitting my back against the window, and swung...In the worst direction I could have.

The bat impacted the thing's head and the thing's head impacted the nearby lockers as the impact of the bat made it turn around once more and end up in a lunging fall into the lockers, in other words, a lot of noise.

(I just dun an fucked up.)

In a split second, before the corpses could realise that the dinner bell had just rang, I bent my body forward, so their arms won't be able to easily get a hold of me, and break into a sprint. Thankfully, there were only a couple of them left between me and the end of this damn infested hallway.

I picked the first route I saw to be obstacle-free at that moment and started running. A few steps later, I see one of them blocking my way. It was far enough for me to change direction, so I just ran past it after swerving to the left.

Problem is, I was now running next to the wall on my left so I could only swerve to the right. Which would be a bad idea unless I wanted to end up running into one of these things. Before long, another one was blocking my way, this time I was unable to swerve past it. So I held my bat on each side with my hands and smashed it sideways under its armpit. Ducking my head and using my forearm to push its arm away from me so it could not grab me as it stumbled to the right.

With that one now out of the way, there was only one of them left in front of me. My bat was already in a position for a swing, so I grabbed the handle with both my arms and swung for the things head. Causing it to fly to the left and land face first into the windowed wall.

With the hallway in front of me now hostile free, I stop running and quickly look back. Every single one of them was now walking towards me. I then turn my head forward and start walking silently, turning over the next corner a few moments later.

In this hallway there were not as many of the walking corpses. But the few that were here, were heading towards my direction as well.

Undeterred, I continued walking forward silently. Side stepping out of the way of any of the shambling corpses, until I could see Kohta waving at me, with Saya behind him, giving Kohta the stink eye.

(Saya and Kohta must have heard the commotion too. Lucky for me, that made them wait instead of picking up speed.)

Heading towards the two I raise my bat and wave at them. After reaching them I speak up.

"Good to see you're still alive commando." I say in a low tone.

"Y...yea...glad to see you're also still alive from…whatever this is."

I then turned my sight to Saya, who was now eyeing me, still with a frown. I sigh and look around.

The ones behind me were flocking to where I had my little accident, so we were safe from them, for now at least. And, from what I could see, there weren't any hungry corpses in front of us either.

"Ummm this...is Takagi" Kohta says, introducing me to the scowling pinkette.

"Did you get bit?" She says with a sharp tone.

(That is the first thing she tells me? Not even a goddamn 'Hi, nice to meet you person I yelled at yesterday'. Not that I expected anything else from her to be honest.)

"Actually, that's a good question." I answer as I start checking myself for bites or any other wounds.

In the heat of the moment, it could be possible that I got bit, but did not feel it.

After checking myself. It thankfully did not seem to be the case.

"No bites" I look back up at the two of the main cast...

The three of us then spent a couple of awkward seconds looking at each other before deciding to move out.

"Wait, You… aren't you the idiot who was spacing out on the stairs yesterday, the one blocking my way? " Saya speaks up as we start moving, her eyes narrowed.

(Me and my big mouth...)

"Yeah… that would be me." I scratch the back of my head while letting out a dry laugh.

"...Ughhh" Was all she said as she shook her head and walked past me...Me and Kohta following behind her.

(Deja-vu… Maybe going on the first floor and hoping to find Saeko before becoming somebody's lunch was a better idea after all.)


	8. Skipping school

"So they only react to sounds?" Kohta asks in a low tone.

"Yep, they are blind and seem to ignore physical contact with inanimate objects, they might be able to sense heat though. As from what I saw, they seem to realize when they have grabbed a human and they are also able to home in on a running person after getting their initial 'lock on' too... even if that 'lock on' doesn't seem to last very long. As they lose interest pretty fast, and get distracted even faster. I'm just hypothesizing about that though, I didn't have much of a chance to test it out, nor do I have a death wish to experiment how long it will take them till they would lose interest in chasing me, especially when I'm in a closed space." I say as I look back at Kohta.

"I see, that would explain why we were able to just walk around them then." Kohta nods while he keeps speaking quietly.

"Also kind of obvious but, these things are, well, dead" I say with a deadpan look on my face.

"Huh, dead? Don't be ridiculous, if they are dead then why are they still walking around?" Saya butts in with a sharp and rather loud voice.

"I don't know, but you have seen them? I might not be that particularly versed in human biology, but what I do know is that you can't be considered to be very alive if you're chewing your own ripped off arm, half of your back is missing and you are dragging your own guts on the floor. Also Takagi, could you pleeaaase... talk just a biiiit more quietly?" I turn my head to Saya with a pleading look.

I tried to be as polite and non provocative as I could. And obviously, I failed. This is Saya we're talking about after all.

Saya frowns, puffs her cheeks and answers with a rather loud voice, again.

"And who are you to tell me what to do? And why did you have us stop in this classroom in the first place?"

Right now we were in an empty classroom, as I asked the other two for a 'stop' after I saw them trying to hide behind a couple of lockers when they spotted a couple of corpses 'staring' at our direction. I could have explained how the corpses act right then and there. But I had the strong feeling that Saya would not be able to help herself and would end up with some loud, snarky remark after my explanation.

So, planning ahead for that, I picked an empty classroom in hopes of somewhat soundproofing Saya's outbursts, as she kept speaking loud enough to make every single deadhead turn our direction.

"Ughhh...forget it, I am not here to antagonize you. Kohta and I will check the door. And if it's clear I will signal with my hand so we can move out. We should try to keep the noise and chatter to the minimum after we get out of this room." I say and get up from the chair.

"And who made you the boss anyway?" Saya 'asks' as she silently looked away from me.

Ignoring Saya, I started moving towards the class door.

(God, she might seem cute and all with her tsundere act in the anime. But the fact that all I get from her is tsun and no dere is making me want to start chewing a desk. I had to deal with one too many corpses already, because she was being too loud.

Uhhh, focus, got to keep myself focused. She might act like a total stuck up bitch right now, but she is not a bad person, I hope. And, I also have to make sure Kohta won't end up dead before he gets his custom-made nail gun thingy.)

Going to the door, I cleared my mind and slowly opened and peeked through the door.

(Right side has two of them standing up and three on their knees munching on some unlucky bastard.

Left side has only three, but all of them are on their feet. Normally, I would take the right side as going around the eating ones is much easier, but I don't want to risk it with the other two with me.)

I move back to the classroom, motion Kohta to wait, pick a random pencil case, stuff it up with clutter, close it and then move back to the door. Then hurl the case at some lockers on the right side. While the noise caused the prone zombies to get up and move to the lockers, it also caused the trio on the left to start moving towards the right corridor as well.

As they shambled past the door, I motioned to Kohta to move out. He gets up from his chair and starts moving, followed by an annoyed, yet silent Saya.

After getting out and stealthily walking to the left, the three of us started moving down the hallway with me in the front, Saya in the middle and Kohta bringing up the rear.

"Kohta, if possible keep a lookout behind us. I don't want us to end up surrounded in the wrong moment." I say to him in a hushed tone.

Kohta gapes at me like a fish before he proceeds to simply nod. Saya just kept quiet.

(Got to get Kohta his gun, he's being way too meek like this.)

"Say Naier, what's with the get up?" I hear Kohta ask.

"The bag, shoes and gloves?" I answer without stopping to look back.

"I had a tight schedule today, I was planning to leave right after school and only return tomorrow morning so I packed for it" I responded without waiting for Kohta's input.

"You're going somewhere?" He asks right after.

"Yea a part-time job" I answered once again.

"You have a job?" Kohta returns with another question.

(God damn it dude, stop being so curious. Now I have to make up even more things on the go.)

"Yep" Then, an idea hit me.

"I was helping a friend of the shop owner we met a couple of days ago, you remember him right?" I answered back, hoping that if the gun range owner came into play, it would make Kohta stop asking questions, as him being there with me yesterday was not very legal. Not that being legal mattered in any way right now. But both of them have yet to realize the weight of the situation from what I see.

(I just hope that this won't come back and bite me in the ass.)

"Ohhhhh I see" Kohta was about to open his mouth again when...

"Will you two shut up already!" Saya butts in, again, with a loud voice.

(Saya, you just got brownie points for this. Even if you were not actually aiming to help here.)

Thankfully Saya's loud voice did not attract anything other than a couple of corpses that were already behind us. So other than the occasional corpse that got wind of us 'somehow' and had to meet the wrong end of my bat, or fall in love with a nearby wall, we moved through the hallways with relative ease.

(What should I do now? I got Saya and Kohta with me, so I could just go straight to the classroom I got the screwdriver from and arm Kohta up. Although that means that he might also run out of ammo sooner... As in the anime he gets his gun at sunset, and we have about an hour before the sky changes color at all.

We could go straight to the faculty room and wait for the rest of the team. With the car and bus keys there, these two will probably agree to go with me if I tell them that I can drive. But then, I won't be sure if the group will meet up at all. Hmm, Saeko and Shizuka, I know they are heading towards that room as well, so all we have to do in order to meet them is wait. That only leaves Rei and Takashi out...

No, no I must make sure Takashi joins up with the group. Bad thoughts, bad Naier, bad.

So, I guess we'll just go get Kohta his gun and then run around until sunset. Worst case, I'll have to let the whole thing with Saya getting attacked and going into shock happen. Although I hope to avoid having her go through with that harrowing experience… Anyway, Takashi was aiming to leave the school with Rei, so we could find him if we keep an eye on the front gate after teaming up with Saeko and Shizuka.)

With thought, I decided that the best next move is to arm Kohta. As right now I'm the only one that's actually doing any fighting, with Saya and Kohta either staying behind me or trying to find a place to hide, from blind corpses. Bad habits die hard I guess.

"We should go to the workshop class, it should have tools and materials that will let us reinforce what we have, or make something better, as I don't know how long this bat will hold if we keep going like this." I say while turning my head back looking at the two.

"There's one on the second floor." Saya speaks up as she pushes her glasses with her middle finger.

"Alright then, second floor for starters." I nod and turn to look forward again.

As we kept moving, I noticed a group of corpses huddled together at the end of the hallway. The sound of moaning, chewing and bones being snapped being audible in the otherwise silent hallway.

(I have three good reasons for why I don't want to go down that way, and one is making my own bones protest.)

I stop abruptly and raise my arm without looking back, my hand in a stop motion. But apparently I was not the only one that was not looking, as Kohta bumped into Saya's back.

"Watch it Fatso!"

Saya's voice rang like an alarm in my head…

"Shit." Was all I managed to say as I saw the whole group of corpses at the far end of the hallway get up.

I then looked behind us, to see that corpses that were following us were also closing in on us as well.

I didn't even have time to be mad at Kohta for not telling me that we were being followed. If we didn't act fast, we would end up surrounded, and there were way too many of them to fight off.

(The stairs are not too far, if we run we can make it there before the group in the front can cut us off.)

"Stairs, now." Is all I say as I start running. Taking the hint, the other two pick up speed and start running behind me.

(Good, we will make it to the stairs before they do, they are too far away.)

Right before we reached the staircase though, I saw a corpse walking out the corner that the stairs were located at, then another, and another. And seconds later, corpses started pouring out of the staircase.

(Are you for real?!)

I stop running and bend my body backwards to balance out the momentum of my sprint, my boots slide across the floor for a bit before finally stopping.

Saya, not being able to stop as fast, ended up being in front of the group now as she stopped a few meters ahead of me. And...We were now surrounded.

"Do something!" Saya shouts without looking back.

(Too many of them to fight, and we can't evade them. Come on think, Think damn it!)

Kohta walked past me and stood next to Saya as he stared at the group of the approaching corpses.

"Why are there so many of them here?" Kohta asked as he kept looking at the now giant group that was slowly making its way to us.

"Instead of asking stupid questions, how about you start thinking of how we can get out of here?!" Saya puts her hands on her hips and turns to Kohta as she shouts. While that was happening, I was looking at what little 'free' space we had left as the corpses closed in from both directions...

My eyes then fell to a classroom door that was a few meters away from the larger group.

(We don't have much of a choice left do we?)

Idea in mind, I start running towards the large group while pointing at the door.

"Door, get to the door next to the large group, now!"

"That's not going to help, idiot! We'll just be trapped in there!" Saya shouts while following me.

"I got a plan." I say as I go to the class door, swing it open and look inside.

(Good, it's empty.)

"Inside, now." I turn to the two.

Saya lets out an annoyed sigh and runs inside, Kohta following behind her shortly after.

"Great, now what genius?" Saya then turns to me, her arms folded.

"...Now you stay quiet." I say as I slam the door shut before they can speak back.

With me still outside.

I looked to my right seeing the large group of shambling corpses was only a couple of meters away from me. The group on my left had fewer corpses and was still further away, but still too many to take head-on in such a closed off space.

They had also shambled past the door of the classroom that was next to the one I just left the other two in, so no dodging them that way. The only thing left between me and them was a corridor of concrete wall and some lockers on one side, and a windowed wall on the other.

(You had to try and act like a badass didn't you? Now, you'll die for it.)

I moved away from the door, where the two were hiding in, backing away from the large group until I was standing in the middle of the two groups.

(Too high to jump out of the window, too many to fight, and one of them will surely get me if I just stand still. I can't use the phone as a distraction either, that would pretty much kill Kohta and Saya by attracting everything here. Not that it matters, no matter where I'll throw the damn thing I'll still have corpses 'behind' me.)

Turning my head I saw that some corpses from the larger group are starting to bang on the door of the classroom that Saya and Kohta were in. The sound of their banging also caused the other corpses to start flocking outside the door.

"Oh for fuck sake!"

I shout as I run to the nearby set of lockers.

And kick them.

"Stay away from that fucking door shit for brains, I'm not fucking dead yet!" I scream as loud as I can while kicking the while I was pretty much committing suicide, I noticed that the lockers kept making small movements after each kick.

(They're not bolted down?)

I ran to the side of the lockers that were closer to the smaller group, grab the edge and put my foot in front of them so it can act as the fulcrum for the lockers, then push them to the right.

It felt like I was watching the lockers topple in slow motion...until. A loud crash.

Loud enough for the corpses that were banging at the door to stop, and turn towards me once again. But, the now toppled lockers gave me an idea.

I look behind me and see the small group that was still closing in on me. I then went behind the next set of lockers while still facing the smaller group, and gave them a strong push, then kept on pushing until they were near the smaller group.

The screeching was actually loud enough to also make some of the corpses that were shambling next to the windows change their direction slightly towards the lockers.

I get in position to topple them over as well.

(I could just go to the other side of the wall and wait until most of them moved towards the lockers...but.)

I stared intensely as the corpses got closer.

(I got a better idea)

Once some of them have gotten close enough, I push the lockers to the left, making them fall over. Crushing a couple of corpses underneath them.

With the bodies under it, the lockers were now about shin-high on my side, and knee/thigh height on the other. After getting on the wobbling lockers, I look at what remained of the small group that was now slowly trying to get on the lockers.

(This could work.)

Bat in hand, I walk forward and take a swing with both hands at the first, and only corpse that managed to get on the lockers.

The corpse takes a spin and falls back, causing two other corpses to get struck under its falling body. Seeing the opening I grab the bat in a reverse grip and start running towards the small opening. Jumping off the lockers and over the corpses that were on the ground. The moment I landed, I eyed the last nearby corpses of the group to my right.

Not wasting time, I took a quick jump forward ,rolling away from its extended hands. Turning back to look at all the chaos after I got back on my feet.

(Ok, let's make sure they leave that door alone.)

Not wanting to take any chances, I head to a distant locker and topple it over as well, making sure that the two groups would wander away from the classroom and the staircase.

After watching them for some seconds and making sure that they had lost interest in the door, I turned around and ran. My face was sporting a shit-eating grin and I was feeling like a total badass, even if I didn't actually smash any heads in.

(My food better still be in one piece after that roll.)

After packing some distance from the group of corpses I spent some time checking the classrooms until I found an empty one, then headed inside so I could get my bearings…

I find a nearby chair, grab it and turn it towards the door before finally sitting on it. Then, I let out a huge sigh.

(Holy crap… I need to stop trying to act cool in front of pretty girls, lest I join the dead before my time.)

After taking a break for a couple of minutes, I start thinking about my current situation.

(So much for teaming up, now I'm by myself again. Still, Kohta and Saya should be fine, and since I gave them the idea about using tools to make or reinforce stuff, I can at least have high hopes that they will go to that classroom and Kohta can go commando mode.)

I then look outside the window.

(The sun is starting to set too. If I remember correctly, in the second episode where the sun was starting to set, the inside of the school's hallways were starting to get flooded with corpses. Meaning it will be much harder for me to move around as time goes by. Now the group stays in the faculty room between episode two and three. But, I don't know for how long they really stay there, as both episodes are during sunset. I could try to go there and meet the whole group along the way.

Also, out of the two, I think at least Kohta will probably be worried about whether I survived or not. So he should at least mention me. Hmm Ok, for now, I should aim for the faculty room. Judging by the color of the sky, the rest of the group should be heading there soon too...)

After taking a needed break, I get up and head to the door, opening it slowly. Looking outside, I could see a couple more corpses shambling about, but nothing I couldn't sidestep over. So, Bat in hand, I exit the class and start heading towards the staircase in order to go on the second floor.

(I should check the class where Saya and Kohta were, doubt they are still there though. But I have to make sure.)

Setting my route so I end up by the staircase near the toppled lockers I start walking down the hallways. Going over the same path I used when I was searching for an empty classroom, I noticed that the corpses around here have increased in number as well.

(I was right about one thing it seems, as time passed, more and more corpses seem to be roaming the hallways. I want to get out of this fricking school… fast.)

Thankfully, I made it to the toppled lockers without finding the hallway clogged with brain munching corpses. The place was empty, with only a couple roaming corpses that seemed to be going off in their own direction. And the ones that ended up under the lockers, as I could see moving feet extending from under it.

I slowly walk past the downed lockers without touching them, not wanting to attract any attention, and make my way to the classroom door, to find it open.

(It has been opened, not broken, that's a good sign.)

Walking inside, I find it empty.

(No bodies, at least they didn't get killed here, meaning my diversion worked at least.)

I then looked outside, to see that the sky had started to take a heavy shade of yellow.

(Alright, let's head to the faculty room.)

I exit the class and head down the stairs to the second floor, heading towards my next destination.

The hallways of the second floor were in worse condition than the third, more guts, more blood, more corpses, more of everything really.

I move away from the staircase looking at the hallway in both directions.

(Not good… too many of them, I will have to go up and...)

I was about to move, when I heard a female scream coming out from the left hallway.

(That was Saya?...)

Reacting to the sound, a bunch of the corpses on the right hallway started going towards the left. In other words, towards me.

(Crap, I'm getting surrounded here, as much as I want to help, I got to head back up.)

I turn around and start running up the stairs. And almost ran into another student who was running down the stairs.

"WHOA! Too many of them!" The student exclamate with a loud voice.

"Yes and now you just attracted their attention, back up the stairs. Now." I say, as I run past the frozen student, a pair of running footsteps following behind me soon after...

I was wondering who the kid was as I ran up the stairs, I didn't seem to recall seeing him in the anime or manga. And, I found out the reason why once I reached the third floor once more.

A tall man was standing there. Striped suit, glasses and a face I instantly wanted to cave in.

(Shido.)

The sudden urge to just lunge at the guy right now, was pretty high. Knowing that he'll be responsible for a bunch of avoidable deaths , possibly including Saya's parents...It honestly made the prospect of destroying his knees, really tempting.

"Sir, there are too many of them downstairs, we can't go that way." The student who was running behind me finally climbed up the stairs and spoke up.

"I see. And, who might you be?" Shido turns his oily stare to me.

"Naier Sepfier." I was trying my best to not let my voice give away what I really wanted to do right now. Even if Shido is a bastard, which he undoubtedly is. If I attack him here, there will be multiple problems for me.

First being that all the students here will probably come after me. To them, Shido is helping them stay alive.

The second, and most important one, is that if Shido doesn't make it to the bus, then the main cast will not leave the bus later. Meaning they won't get to Rika's house, so they won't get the guns and Humvee. And let me tell you, finding guns with actual stomping power in Japan, is like looking for Mew in Pokemon Yellow. Jokes aside, worst of all is that they might end up getting stuck in that giant traffic jam that will attract a whole battalion of corpses during the night.

"I see. You're the transfer student, I am Koichi Shido homeroom teacher of 3-A. You were quite fortunate to run into us, seeing as you are all by yourself" Shido smiles at me with his usual shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

(Fortunate, my ass.)

"Yes, surviving alone in a situation like this was not easy. Also, we should leave soon, the ones from the floor below us are climbing up the stairs as well." I answer as I walk away from the teacher, checking the two hallways to our left and right.

The right one was pretty much clogged, no way to go over there, so the only way to go was left.

"With the lower floor blocked we will have to find some other way. Come on everybody we will have to find another way out of the school." All the students gave a unified 'Yes sir' and followed Shido, who started going towards the left hallway.

Having no other options, I follow behind the group.

(God, I can't believe I'm stuck with this lunatic while The Group gets together right under me.)

"Hey, did you really survive all this time by yourself?" I turn my head to the voice to see the student I bumped into some minutes ago downstairs talking to me.

"Yes, and no. I was with two other people, Kohta Hirano and Saya Takagi, but we got separated." I answered back at the student who was walking next to me.

And then, I heard a snicker from the front part of the group.

"That fat ass? Ha, I'm surprised he's still alive, figured he would be the first one to die since he's like a patty with legs. But hey, he can probably become one hell of a bait, these things will be eating, for days" It was none other than Tsunoda who had opened his mouth. Several other male students next to him started snickering to his statement, his 'bros' if I had to guess.

Shido was doing nothing to stop him, obviously.

"Maybe you all should shut it for a bit, noise attracts them and right now you're all sounding like screaming donkeys"

In retrospect, that was a bad idea. I knew it was a bad idea. The whole planet knew it was a bad idea. But, I just couldn't resist...

My comment was followed by a sudden silence, the blond-haired guy turned to me, veins popping on his forehead.

"The fuck did you call me!?" He shouted, slamming his feet to the ground as he stomped towards me. Tsunoda got close enough to be in strike range, and apparently prepared to throw a punch towards my face.

(I should have said gorillas...)

I was about to take a stance so I could bring his face into a nearby wall the moment he tried to punch me. Yet instead of punching me, he punched the guy that was walking right next to me...

"Take this as a warning, funny guy. Next time, it will be you." Tsunoda glances at me, his scowl turning into a shit-eating grin as he turns around. Walking back to 'his' group like he just did the deed of the century.

(The hell?)

I turned to the guy that met the wrong end of Tsunoda's hand, his own hand now over his bleeding nose.

"Oi, Are you ok?" I ask as I extend my arm.

"No" Barks the student as he gets back up, slapping my arm away before walking away.

(Shitface is trying to make me an outcast? Good going Tsunoda, you just got a vip spot in my shit list, right next to your teacher)

"Now let's not start infighting everybody, we need to stay together" Was all Shido said for the whole situation...

And after the little 'show', I was left walking by myself.

"There should be a second staircase here." After a couple of minutes, Shido spoke up.

Reaching the stairs he mentioned, I could see Shido turning to talk with Tsunoda.

"I will go check the stairs, can't let a wimp do a man's job" Tsunoda speaks up with a nod, and moves towards the stairs. His face turning into a grin as he gave me a quick glance.

Ignoring the provocation, I looked behind us to see the corpses that were slowly closing in on us, attracted by the group's idle chatter.

Tsunoda comes back after a bit, giving the all-clear, and the students start going down the stairs one by one.

While that was happening, I turned towards the guy who took the punch for me.

(I suppose he's not thinking straight after getting punched out of the blue, but is that guy crazy? Leaning against a closed door like that?)

"Hey man, you better get away from that door, you don't know what's on the other side."

"Piss off." The student hisses in a low voice.

"Look, just get away from the door." I responded to the guy who was now glaring at me.

"I said. Piss Off!" The guy now started shouting.

"I got punched in the face because of you! Why don't you mess up somebody else's life!" And He keeps on shouting.

"Just get away from that door, I think I see a shadow looming behind the glass." I answer to the guy in a cautious tone, trying to calm him down.

Yet...it did the complete opposite.

"Will you shut it! Door this, Door that! There is nothing behind this fucking door!" The student keeps shouting as he flings the door open in a blind rage.

Before I was even able to react, the shadow I mentioned lunged out. It grabbed the student and forced him on the ground. The guy's screams of anger quickly turned into screams of panic.

I acted as fast as I could, dropping my bat and taking out the screwdriver, stabbing the side of the corpse's head. But, I was too late.

I could see blood flowing under the student… and it was not from the corpse. He was bit.

I just stayed there on one knee, over the student while he was looking at me, tears appearing in his eyes...

I should have realized what was going to happen next. With Tsunoda making me look like an apparent passive wimp and Shido probably thinking I was not worth being in his little herd because of that.

But, being focused on the dying student in front of me, I didn't even notice that my bat was not where I dropped it. I only realized something was terribly wrong as I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, my whole body falling forward on top of the bleeding student.

My vision went blurry for a few seconds.

Shaking my head and opening my eyes to look straight ahead, I see a pair of bloody shoeless feet closing in on me, and the fallen student who was now just whimpering under me.

Turning my head around, my vision still slightly blurry, I see Shido dropping my bat and casually walking away.

(Shido...Shido you fucking good for nothing!...I'm going to fucking KILL YOU!)

Rage starts to heat up my head, I quickly pull myself on my knees and try to get up. Only to feel something holding my sleeve, looking down, I see the dying student looking at me.

"Man please, I didn't mean it, please. Don't leave me here, I don't want to die like this, don't want to. Please." He was stumbling on his words, blood was starting to come out from his mouth mixing with the tears that were running down his cheeks.

Seeing the student like that, made me snap out of my rage. I couldn't bring myself to leave him alone while he was looking like that. With the screwdriver still in hand, I grab the student by the collar, then take his arm and then yank him up.

"Thank…" His bloody smile after I helped him up, was short-lived however. As that pair of feet that I saw some moments ago were now beyond close. Before he could even manage to thank me, another corpse grabbed him from behind, biting him on the back of his neck while pushing him forward on to me. And, he started to scream again.

Being in an awkward position after lifting the student up, I didn't manage to dodge the now falling student as the weight of two bodies fell on me. And I ended up on the ground with two bodies on top of me, only managing to put an arm between me and the student.

After hitting the floor, I heard the student's neck bones snap. I used my screwdriver to stab the head that had embedded it's teeth at the back of the student's neck. Looking at the student, I saw that he was no longer moving, screaming, or crying. Only his blood was now dripping on my face. He was dead.

I started panicking, realizing that he would soon be 'waking' up with me right under him. Add along the corpses that were still closing in.

I grabbed the head of the second corpse that had its teeth still embedded on the late student's neck and pulled the screwdriver from its head, right as the student started to twitch.

Among the twitching student on top of me, the approaching corpses, and my own mental state...

"Aaaarrrhh! I am NOT dying here! NOT like this!"

I started screaming while stabbing the students head, pushing the two bodies away from me until I could put my foot between the bodies. Getting them off me with a kick while taking the screwdriver out of the dead students head in the process of freeing my trapped body.

I quickly roll away from the oncoming corpses using the momentum of my kick. I finish the backwards roll on my feet, stand up and run to my bat, grabbing it with my free hand. Then with a glance at the window, I see Takashi and the rest of his team getting on the bus.

The mere idea that I was going to be left behind because I was done in by Shido made my blood boil even more. I quickly put the screwdriver back in the side pocket of my bag and started jumping down the stairs until I was on the first floor.

Ignoring the corpses that infested the hallways, I just bolted through them. Whatever arm reached for me either found air, or didn't manage to get a grip on me.

While on the first floor, running through the hallway that linked to the exit, I looked through the windows and saw Shido casually walking towards the bus.

As I was nearing the exit, I was still going at full speed. Not having time to stop I used a corpse that had its back turned to me as a break. Smashing into it so that I could come to a stop, and allow me to change the direction of my sprint towards the exit.

The moment I saw the bus, the world around me blurred, the only thing I could see was the bus with Shido still a couple of meters away from the door.

I bend my body, grab my bat in reverse grip and break into a dead run, my feet stomping on the ground. The sound of moaning did not even reach my ears as I passed the corpses that turned their attention to me.

As I kept sprinting across the field I saw Shido slowly extending his arm towards the bus.

Realizing that he was about to get on the bus, and that they were going to leave without me...

(No, Not gonna happen. I will not be left behind because of that fucking bastard!)

Still sprinting, I take a deep breath and bellow out.

**"MOOOVEEE!"**

My shout made the people in the bus turn their heads towards me. I would really like to see the expressions on certain people right now, but I was focused on my main target right now, Shido.

In all honesty, what I actually hoped for was for Shido to actually not 'move it' at all. What I hoped for, is that my shout would distract everybody in the bus so I could close in.

And well… I long since decided that I would not be stopping normally.

Shido, hearing my shout turned his face with a smirk, that quickly disappeared once he saw me, his face turning pale.

I could see the uproar on the bus. But the important part was, the plan worked. Shido was just standing there like an idiot. And the few seconds he failed to react was enough for me to reach the bus.

I jumped in, crashing right into Shidos lower abdomen, making him plummet backwards on the metal stairs and falling unconscious.

While that was definitely not enough to kill him, it did feel great to get back at the bastard.

Shaking my head, I look around me before getting up. I then toss my bat on an empty seat next to me before closing the bus door.

In the meantime, I heard Takashi shout.

"Miss Shizuka, Drive!"

Shizuka, who was just staring along with everybody else, snaps out of it and stomps on the pedal. I could hear her mumbling to herself as she went ham on the corpses in the school field, until she finally busted through the front door.

I was still standing on top of Shido while the bus was shaking, thinking of what to do.

(I could just start swinging at his face, bastard deserves it. But that would probably make the rest of the bus freak out on me, Rei excluded. They're probably already on edge with me after my entrance, so I shouldn't go all Hanibal on Shido...yet.)

While I was deep in thought I saw Shido waking up, his eyes slowly focusing on me as I was standing over him.

"My apologies Sir Shido, did not see you there. My vision was kinda blurry as something hit me on the back of my head some time ago" I say with a deadpan look on my face.

"I...it's alright, what is important is that you are safe. It is a teacher's job to keep you students safe after all." His face was still pale as he said that, rolls of sweat rolling down his forehead. He knew that I saw him.

He slowly got up. Straightening his suit before limping to the back of the school bus. And, he immediately started whispering to his little flock.

(The guy is already scheming? Damn, he bounces back fast. Whatever, I regret nothing and I'm feeling much better now.)

I walk towards the chair with my bat and leave my bag on it.

"Naier?" Hearing my name, I turn my head around. Following the direction of the sound I see Kohta, who was sitting on an outside seat, with Saya sitting next to him, staring outside.

"Hey. Told you I had a plan."

Saya turns her head to my statement shifting her eyes towards me as she opens her mouth.

(Oh god, even after I saved her ass she is going to dish me out?)

Yet, she said nothing. She just stared at me for a couple of seconds, before quickly turning her head back towards the window.

(That, was weird. )

I shrug and turn my attention back to Kohta.

"You're...ok?" He asks me with a worried expression.

"Uhh, I'm fine. Is there something on my face?" I start lightly patting my face before turning my head towards the rest of the group. Yet, everybody was just staring at me. Rei, Takashi, Saeko and even the students that were with Shido, although their expressions looked a bit more...fearful.

Standing there for a few seconds, and seeing that the expressions did not change, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Opened it and used the front facing camera to look at my face on the screen.

Seeing my reflection, I realize why Shido's groupies looked like they're about to piss their pants.

All of my face is covered in blood and my clothes look like I just had a wrestling match with a bear, and lost.

(Well, I look like total shit.)

"Well, uhh."

I turn my head away from the phone and look around at the group.

"Is there a chance any of you got a wet handkerchief? I think I might have some blood on my face."


	9. Going on a trip

You know what's apparently rare in a zombie outbreak? God damn handkerchiefs.

"Nothing? Nobody?" I raise my arms in disbelief after trying my best to straighten my clothes, in order to look less like a crazed ax murderer.

(Well, all of them just fled for their life with only the clothes on their back so I shouldn't be surprised.)

I turn around and start shuffling around in my bag.

(...I could just use the bandages to wipe my face.)

I grab a roll of bandage, unroll a bit of it and start cleaning my face of the still liquid blood.

I then take off my gloves, unwrap more of the bandage and start wrapping my hand with the clean part, until it's about halfway up to my forearm, where the bandage runs out. Locking the bandage with the clips it came with, I then proceeded to do the same to my other hand with the second roll, before putting my gloves back on.

Afterward, I took the swiss knife out and cut the bloody part of the bandage, then looked at the bloody piece in my hand.

(This is the blood of the first actual person I saw dying in front of me. I keep surprising myself with how calm I am with all of this.)

"Uhh Naier?" I turn towards the voice to see Kohta looking at my hands, along with the rest of the group.

"I know you said that you packed your bag for your part-time job. But, what exactly 'is' your part-time job? For you to need bandages and a swiss knife?" Kohta asks me while pointing at the swiss knife.

"I am interested to know as well. Those are quite an… interesting combination of items." I turned around to see that that question had come from Saeko.

I take a deep breath and try to look as serious as I can.

"My job is to make an example of people who do not want to cooperate with my boss." I respond with a deadpan look on my face.

As soon as the words left my mouth, silence. The whole group just stared at me.

...

And a couple of seconds later, my grim face cracked.

"Pppfft, heheh. Sorry, sorry my bad." I look down and shake my head with a slight chuckle as I put the swissknife back inside my bag.

The whole group relaxes after they see me chuckling, although their reactions differed quite a bit.

Kohta looked relieved, Takashi looked weirded out, Rei just had a blank stare, Saya went from a 'what' frown to a 'you are an idiot' frown, Saeko did not really react to the whole situation, she just slightly tilted her head sideways.

"They are more of a 'better safe than sorry' precaution" I awnser.

(Ugh, crap. Think Naier, what do you say now.)

The whole group just keeps staring at me.

"I help a friend of a 'friend' with his job. He sells hunting rifles, we go to the wilderness and I film him using the guns. Something like a promo video for the stuff he will later try to sell. We don't actually kill anything though."

(Huh, I just realized. I can lie through my teeth with a straight face. Should I be happy about that?)

The whole group just keeps staring.

"Oohh! That makes sense." Kohta was the first one to speak up.

"Wait? it does?" Takashi looks back to Kohta even more weirded out than before.

"Well I've met this 'friend' of his. So yeah, I could see that actually happening."

"Great, so now we have two gun nuts." Saya simply groans in response.

Ignoring Saya's unneeded remark, I thank Kohta in my head for pulling me out of the tight spot.

"I guess all of you have already heard it like twenty times by now, but the name's Naier Sepfier"

"Takashi Komuro" Takashi nods.

"I'm Rei Miyamoto." Rei speaks up after Takashi.

"Busujima Saeko, nice to meet you Sepfier. The teacher behind you is Miss Shizuka Marikawa." Saeko then continues after doing a slight bow.

"Ohh that's me, nice to meet you Serpfloffier, Serfoufier ughh Sepfofir..." Shizuka after hearing her name proceeds to apparently try to rename me to something more fluffy.

(If I say that I'm surprised, I would be lying… again.)

"Ehh… just Naier is fine, my Surname is quite the mouthful."

The group giggles silently while Shizuka pouts and silently keeps trying to get my surname right.

After we got over with greeting each other, I turned to Saya.

"So… what happened, are you alright?" I ask her.

"Huh, what do you mean?" she asks, slightly frowning.

"Well, after we split up I tried to find you two again but..." Before I could complete my sentence Saya butts in.

"We could not wait for you in that classroom, it was too dangerous." She says, while narrowing her eyes.

"Ehh that was not what I was going to ask… Was it you that screamed at the school on the second floor, near the faculty room at sunset?"

(Well I know it was her. But I figured that at least more interaction with her will make her less toxic towards me.)

She opens her eyes wide then quickly gets an angry frown

(Ooor not, figures that it was probably a bad subject… Definitely a bad subject to talk about. God I AM an idiot.)

"If you knew it was me then why didn't you come to help!" she 'asked' with a loud voice.

"I ran into some 'trouble'" I answered as I turned to look at the bloody bandage on my hand.

I then took a quick glance at the back of the bus.

Shido had long since recovered from his little 'accident' with the bus floor and was already yapping about the 'leader' business to everybody that could tolerate him. I.e. everybody not in the 'main' group.

"Wait, so you are the 'friend' Kohta was talking about?" Takashi asks.

I blink a few times before connecting the dots. And then I turn to Kohta.

"Please tell me you did not forget my name in all the panic and told them that you had a 'friend' that helped you?"

Kohta just laughs sheepishly and scratches his head. I just facepalm and groan.

"We tried to look for you but there were too many of them in the hallways for us to search efficiently." Saeko speaks up.

"It's alright, it worked out in the end. " I sigh and decide to not dig into the subject any further.

(If they don't care enough to look for me, then I'll just have to get closer to them until they'll do.)

"Speaking of it… What happened to you Sepfier ? You looked really awful when you got on the bus." Saeko asks me right after.

I turn my sight to Shido's little flock before answering.

"I'll tell you all when the time's right. And now it's not, trust me." Saeko follows my eyesight, looks at Shido, then back at me, and nods.

The rest of the group, seeing Saeko agree to wait, decided to not press on the matter either.

"Well, we were off to a rough start, but I hope we'll get along now." I say, folding my arms with a nod, looking at the group as they nod back at me. Except for Saya, she just stared out of the window.

(Alright, let's not forget what's to come. Got to figure out where we are right now.)

I headed back to my seat and put the bag on the chair by the window so I could sit on the chair that was easier to get up from. Comfortable with my seating, I take my map out of the bag.

"Miss Marikawa, could you please tell me where are we right now?"

I ask Shizuka while looking at the map. She turns her head slightly.

"Hmm… I think we just passed a sign saying that we passed block 10-58 of the Kawashimo neighborhood." She answers as she glances around the front windshield.

"Hmm, I see. Thank you." I respond and return to my map.

(I need to figure where Shido will pull his little stunt, so I can plan a route for when we get split up. As I can't just run after Rei and drag her back by force if she jumps out. That would give everybody a very bad impression of me. And seeing that even Takashi could not convince her, there's a good chance that we'll end up splitting up. If I can't figure a good way to prevent the whole thing from happening at least. But knowing Shido's character and Rei's history with him, nigh impossible I say.)

Looking at the map, I pinpoint the bus's location and then look at the nearest bridges drawn on the map.

(Hmm. The city is actually three giant landmasses linked by bridges, and is surrounded by the sea at one end, much like Poseidon's spear. Right now we are at the rightmost 'island', with the closest police station, that I suspect Takashi mentions they should 'meet up' at, being the central landmass. Meaning that if we were to use the original meeting place, we'll need to pass the bridge to get there, and most of the bridges will be clogged with cars, or blocked off by cops.

In the anime Takashi reunites with the group by finding them on a blocked bridge by sheer dumb luck. Not something I want to count on right now. I will try to figure where Shido will make his move, and then find the nearest location we could meet up, like a park or even a bridge itself.)

Deciding to take a small break, I fold the map back and look at the bloody bandage that I still had on my hand.

(I'm still a bit weirded out that I'm not even shaken by that whole thing with the dead student... But I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. If I was freaking out right now, it would not do me any good.)

I then leave the bloody bandage on the metal handle in front of me.

(Rest in peace. That's all I can offer you.)

I close my eyes and decide to rest a little. With my eyes closed, all I could hear was the engine of the bus, and silent whispering.

Until some minutes later, I hear footsteps closing in to me.

"Hey, umm, Naier."

Opening my eyes, I turn my head and see Kohta sitting on one of the two chairs by my right.

"Hey, what's up." I answer nonchalantly.

"Look, I just want to… uhh, apologize for not looking hard enough and almost leaving you behind" Kohta kept his head down while he said this. Well, I had already decided to let the whole thing slide. But, the fact that Kohta was still worrying about it, was enough for me.

"It's cool, the fact that you're still bothered about it is enough. It means you cared. So seriously, stop worrying about it, now." I looked at Kohta, who still seemed to be down in the dumps. And figured it was time to take a different approach.

"By the way, nice SMG. Where did you get it? It kind of looks like a retarded vector." I say, pointing at the nail gun as I finish my sentence with a chuckle.

"Huh, a vector?" He looks at the nail gun for a bit.

"You're right, it does look like one. It actually weighs about as much as an old assault rifle, so I never thought of it as an smg. Heh, wish it had the rate of fire and recoil of a vector though."

Getting an idea in my head, I smirk.

"Well I hope you did not name it yet, because as of now, I dub it R-ector. Standing in for...Retarded Vector."

He snaps his face to me.

"What?! Don't go off giving my gun weird names." Kohta hugs his nail gun and turns his upper body away as if protecting it from me.

"Ok, I won't. If you stop bothering yourself about what happened at the school." I say and fold my arms leaning back on my seat.

He looks at me and sighs, and then finally laughs.

"Fine fine, I get it. Thanks Naier." I give him a two-finger salute as he gets up and walks back to his seat.

(I really want to turn back and shout 'You take good care of R-ector now', but he might end up feeling that I'm having fun at his expense. That guy loves his guns after all.)

Deciding that was enough of a break, I take the map out once more and continue from where I left off…

About ten minutes later, I was still looking at the map. We were now driving near the seaside. The bus mostly quiet… I wish. As Tsunoda and his hangers-on, had started causing a racket.

(It will happen soon. I got our location down, so I should start looking around for a place to meet up later.)

Scanning the map, I found a park that was near one of the smaller bridges and relatively close to our position.

(This could work, it's still on the same landmass and the bridge there seems to be small, so there's a chance it won't be clogged or blocked.)

Just as I finished my thought, I'm jerked forward as the bus suddenly stops. Shizuka then took off her seat belt and turned around.

"I can't drive with all this yelling!"

Tsunoda freezes for a moment, before he starts shouting again. About stuff I really didn't care to listen about, something about having component people in the team or some crap?.

"Then what do you wish to do?" Saeko asks right after Shizuka, as she turns to look at Tsunoda.

(Holy deja vu. Didn't realize it, but I haven't seen them speak the lines they said in the anime up till now. I am REALLY weirded out right now.)

"I can't stand him!" Tsunoda shouts pointing at...Me?

(Wait wha...?)

"I cannot stand that wimp! Why do we have to bring that dead weight with us!" Tsunoda keeps shouting.

This time, it seemed more natural that Kohta wanted to act. We're supposed to be friends after all. Only to again be stopped by Saya.

(Did I just switch roles with Takashi? Whatever, this ass is mostly responsible for what happened back at the school. This time, he won't walk away with it…)

I slowly got up, my bat sliding off the chair as it was hanging on my left hand, I tilt my head slightly.

"Be careful when you use that word. Donkey."

Tsunoda, losing whatever little restraint he had left, screams and charges towards me. Blind rage was all he had as he sprinted towards me.

I was about to thrust my bat forward towards his chest as he blindly rushed towards me. Yet, for some reason, he tripped. Causing him to awkwardly flail about as he tried to regain his balance.

Not losing the chance, I released my grip on my bat, letting it fall on the floor as I ran up to Tsunoda, grabbing him by the collar with both hands and lifting his face to me.

(A wimp huh?)

Was the only thought that passed my head as I smashed my forehead into his nose with all my strength. The impact caused him to stop struggling and put his hands on his now bleeding nose.

I then move one of my legs behind his own leg, take my hands off his collar and quickly bend my upper body and slam my shoulder into him, causing him to trip on my leg and fall down.

Feeling that it was not enough punishment, I kneel down.

With one knee on his arm, I grabbed his second arm with my hand and yanked it towards me so I won't end up with a surprise punch to the face.

"The last guy who died near me also ended up with a broken nose. You're filling that role perfectly so far. Be glad I decided not to use the bloodstained bat on your sorry face to test whether infected blood can transmit the disease. But, next time you try to cause trouble for me. I will pass your face through the bus floor before testing exactly that. Take this as a warning."

I release Tsunoda and start walking back to my seat, only to hear clapping.

(I'm starting to get pissed with this charade.)

"Splendid work Sepfier, you certainly know how to hold yourself in a fight. But this only proves what I was saying. We need a leader. Somebody who can stop avoidable conflicts like these."

Shido proceeds to start yapping about how he will stop conflicts and keep everybody safe. All the good shit and all. Causing the students on the back row to start clapping. He then ends his speech with a bow and a shit-eating grin.

"It looks like it has been decided. I am now the leader of this group by the majority of votes."

Feeling rather sarcastic, and probably because of all the adrenaline I had in my veins after my little scuffle with Donkey boy, I started clapping right after Shido finished his speech. Although my expression made it clear that I did not buy a single thing he said.

"Bravo, Cheers, High-five, Sllloow Clap. Somebody give that man and his little donkey an Oscar. All that acting was top-notch. If you think we are total fucking idiots. Create a problem and then act as if you solved it, almost like a stinking politician."

Shido's face actually distorted a little when I mentioned the politician part.

(Out of the whole thing, this got him? Guess he really hates his dad huh.)

Yet he quickly regains his composure.

"I do not know what you are talking about Sepfier, if you don't like being under my leadership. You are free to leave" Shido responds with a smirk.

As if expecting this, Rei jumps off the bus and starts stomping towards the nearby tunnel.

(Well, in the heat of the moment I forgot my actual target. Rei just jumped out, in other words, I fucked up.)

Takashi then gets off the bus, and runs to Rei. much to Saya's dismay. Yet as I'm about to walk off the bus as well, I'm stopped. My arm gets grabbed by Saeko.

"This is between the two of them," Saeko calmly shakes her head at me.

I just stared at Saeko, before shifting my focus behind her. Raising my arm and pointing at the incoming giant bus.

"And they are about to get violently interrupted." I respond with the same calm tone, causing her to turn her head to where I was pointing at. Her eyes then opened wide.

Saeko then shouts at Shizuka who just, reacts to her name, fidgets about and then just turns her head towards the oncoming lights and stays rooted to the spot.

(Is she a goddamn deer...)

Not that I was any better, as I just stood there as well and watched as the oncoming bus slammed into a car. It then did a whole flip in the air and crashed where Rei and Takashi were standing some moments ago. The wreckage is now blocking the tunnel and catching on fire in the process.

I'm jerked back to action as I realize that Saeko just ran past me. I ran behind her, my mind still processing what I just saw.

(Can a bus actually do a frigging flip like that?)

Reaching the bus I see flaming corpses coming out the wreckage. Getting near Saeko, I hear Takashi shouting.

"To the police station!"

Before Saeko can speak, I shout back.

"No, the closest police station is still too far! It's over the bridge and with the panic we don't know if the bridges will be passable! We need a location on this landmass!" I shouted back.

"Where then!?"Takashi shouts back at me.

"There is a giant park, Marui Shigemi, east of here, near one of the smaller bridges that connect to the central landmass! We can meet up there either today or tomorrow at seven! If the place is overrun, then head towards the bridge and wait either on it or under it!" I shout out.

Takashi nods at me through the opening in the burning wreckage, then turns his back and starts running with Rei.

I look back at the corpses that had closed in, Saeko was readying her bokken, only for the corpses to collapse from the damage the fire was doing to them.

"I'm not in the mood for smoked bacon today. Let's go Busijima, this crash is bound to attract every single corpse that was shambling around here." I say as I start moving towards our bus, Saeko nods and follows behind me.

"Good thinking back there by the way." Saeko tells me as we run back to the bus. I just looked at her and nodded.

Getting on the bus, Saeko shouts at Shizuka that we need to change route, with Shizuka nodding and turning the bus around.

I look at my seat, seeing Kohta sitting by my bag.

"Did something happen?" I ask. He turns his sight to Shido's group.

(Of course, I openly antagonized Shido a moment ago. Now I'm going to be targeted by Shido and his merry midgets. Ughh being stuck on this bus is going to suck.)

"I see, thanks for keeping a lookout buddy." I turn my head back to Kohta.

"Don't mention it, just watch your back in here Naier." Kohta says as he gets up.

After Kohta left, I sat on my chair and checked my equipment, making sure that everything was still in place.

(I wonder who tripped Tsounoda back then. He might be a donkey, but I don't think he's retarded enough to trip on his own two feet. Or well, he might be.)


	10. The bailout

Do you know how it feels when the Tv is on, and there's a random chump talking nonstop, yet the only thing you hear is static?

That would be the perfect example of what is going on with me right now.

Shido, after being 'elected' leader, has been on a killing spree. He won't shut his goddamn mouth up, not even for a minute. And to add even more fuel to this retarded flame, his group is now giving me the stink eye, while Shido keeps trying to fan the flames.

"We must protect ourselves from whatever threat will try to tear us apart. Monsters! Do not always look like monsters. We need to act like a group, help each other, and weed out the ones that would try to harm us." Shido kept on spouting shit, while the idiots on the back with mouths agape were looking at him like they just met a god-damn superhero.

(Luckily for me we are stuck in traffic. Otherwise, they would probably try to throw me out in the first group of corpses they could see. So I could just let the whole thing play out as it did in the anime. But the idea of staying in this bus with Shido and his group of lunatics any longer is a big no no.)

I then turn my attention back to the map.

(After getting away from the crashed bus, it didn't take us too long to get stuck in traffic. Even if we were not trying to go over the bridge this time around, we still ended up funneled here. As most roads were not in a condition for the bus to pass through in order for us to go where we wanted to. Being it, crashed cars or police blockades, we ended up forced to come here along with every other escaping citizen and their cars.)

I turn my head away from the map and look outside.

"Miss Marikawa, I don't think we'll be able to change routes like this. All the exits are blocked and the only way to go is towards the bridge. And by the speed we're going now, we won't be over that bridge even by tomorrow noon." I say to Shizuka before turning my head back to the map.

Shizuka herself was pretty much falling asleep on the wheel as I spoke up. She sighs before taking her hands off the steering wheel, stretching her body.

"And it's not even night yet." She complained lazily.

(That's not the problem here you natural blond. I need to figure out a way to make 'my' group bail the bus. I'm NOT spending my night right next to the Shidobear. There's also something else I want to do, and if I can do it during or right before night time, all the better. So, guess it is time to try and persuade my new friends.)

I get off my seat and walk up to Kohta and Saya. Both of them turned their heads to me, Saeko who was only a seat away also turned to look at me.

"I think now it's a good time I tell you all why I looked like total crap when I got on the bus." Turning my sight to Saeko she nodded and leaned towards my direction. I motion with my head for them to come to the front of the bus.

"Not here. Also, do not come all at once. That would turn Shido's attention to us, I don't need to deal with his crap right now."

I head back to my chair and start packing my stuff. One by one, the rest of the group walked to the front of the bus and took a seat close to me.

Thankfully, Shido was too busy drowning in the admiration of his fans to realize that all four of us had gathered in the front of the bus.

"So what happened?" Saeko asks.

"Shido happened, while we were still inside the school." I say as I turn my sight to the back of the bus.

"You met with Shido before you decided to ram into him?" Saya asks as she tilts her head and raises an eyebrow.

"Yes… and the slimy bastard tried to kill me." I respond as I fold my arms.

Other than Shizuka the rest of the group, while they did react somewhat to my statement. They didn't look 'that' surprised? I guess Shido's reputation precedes him.

"Naier, are you one hundred percent sure he actually tried to do such a thing? While I do admit that I don't like mister Shido too much, and his reputation with the staff isn't exactly the best...maybe you just misunderstood something?"

Shizuka spoke with surprise and some disbelief written all over her face.

I sigh as I shake my head slightly.

"While I was 'stuck' with his group, we got attacked. A student in his group got bit while we were trying to find a way out of the school. I should've known better than to turn my back on that snake. But that's what I did, and he in turn tried to knock me out… or just kill me outright with my own bat while I was trying to help the fallen student. I'm lucky that he swings like a retard, otherwise I'd probably not be here right now."

Shizuka had her hands over her mouth now, guess there's not much to misunderstand in my story now.

"So this leads us to right now. With the speed we're going right now, we'll never reach the park. Whatsmore, most roads seem to be blocked by cop cars or overall be in a very sorry state. I don't think we'll reach the meeting place anytime soon if we stay in the bus. I can also bet whatever sanity I have left, that Shido will only become more unreasonable in his actions as time goes by. He's given some power, and he's already drowning in it."

After that, the group stayed silent for some time, until.

"You are right about the park, we will never make it like this." Saeko looked out the window as she spoke up.

"But what should we do then? Would you rather go on foot?" She asks as she turns to look at me

(Thank you, my dear sadistic samurai.)

I smile slightly.

"Yes, I would rather, and will go on foot. Hell knows I'm not spending my night here with mister 'leader' around. And the more time I waste on this bus the less time I will have to find a place that is safe to stay in for the upcoming night."

(Truth be told though, I don't even want to think how it would be to pass a night alone while being surrounded on all sides by walking corpses. That is some frigging nightmare fuel right there.)

"We." Saeko cuts in while I was thinking.

"Uhhh 'we'?" I tilt my head.

"Yes we, I agree that staying here won't do us any good. So I think that we should leave the bus as well." Saeko turns to the other two as she finishes speaking.

"Yea, I would rather take my chances out there as well." Kohta adds up after Saeko.

"It's decided then, we're leaving." Saya seals the deal as we all nod together.

Before we get up from our seats we hear a meek voice coming from the driver seat.

"Ummm, can I come too? I do not want to be left all alone here with Mister Shido." I turn to the front to see Shizuka staring at us. I smile and give her a thumbs up. She claps her hands together and with a smile, she pulls the handbrake before getting up.

I was about to fully secure my bag, when the commotion we made finally attracted Shido's attention, causing him to turn his attention to the front of the bus.

"Is there something wrong? As a group we need to stay together. If there's something to be said, all of us should hear it, secrets can lead to infighting after all. And for that reason, as your leader, I believe we should not be keeping secrets from one another don't you agree?"

He spreads his arms like the sun just shone out from his ass after finishing his pompous as fuck speech, his groupies clapping behind him, blinded by his glorious asshine.

(God, are those idiots going to clap at everything he says?)

"Thanks but no thanks Shido, we have our own agenda. We got no reason to stay here with you." Saya answers with a sharp tone. Shido's grin then, gets even wider.

"Well Takagi, this is a free country after all, you can do as you wish. But."

Shido then starts licking his lips..

(What the hell… I really, Really want to deck his face right now.)

"Miss Marikawa stays behind. It would be really bad if we lost our driver and medic in our current situation."

Shido then started walking towards us…

(What's that idiot doing? Does he really expect that 'he' will be able to intimidate us after we literally just dealt with fucking zombies? Maybe I should just indeed deck...No, wait, I remember this scene.)

Knowing what was coming next, I passed my bag over my shoulder and then walked backwards, until I felt the steering wheel with my hands. And then…

I heard the air being ripped. Kohta had just fired his nail-gun.

(Ok, this is my chance.)

While Kohta was keeping Shido occupied, I ignored the scene in front of me and turned my sight to the bus's steering wheel, looking for the keys.

And the moment Kohta started shouting, I turned the engine off, hoping that everybody was too focused on Kohta to realize that the bus had gone silent.

"Busujima, exit first, I'll guard the rear!" I hear Kohta shout.

(Alright, it's time to leave.)

I take the keys off and pocket them.

"You have proven you are a man, Kohta." Saeko speaks up, smiling at Kohta before getting off the bus, followed by Saya and Shizuka. With only me and Kohta left in the bus now, I speak up.

"Let's go Kohta. The only thing these guys are going to be good for now. Is live bait" I say with a smirk on my face while staring at Tsunoda.

Kohta nods, and without taking his eyes off Shido, he starts walking backwards towards the door. His nail-gun pointed at Shido the whole time.

The moment Kohta got off, I started walking towards the stairs, staring at the stripped suited worm the whole time. My mouth then curved up to a smirk.

"Next time I see you" I stop smirking mid-sentence.

"I will feed you and your little parade to the corpses. Hope you like walking."

I get off the bus, slam the door and start running towards the group.

(If all goes well, this is going to be the last time I see Shido and his cult. Huh, Here's to wishful thinking.)

After reaching the group that was now waiting for Kohta to catch his breath, I slowed down and walked up next to them.

"That could have gone a lot worse, good job." I say as I lightly tap Kohta on the back.

"Th… thanks." Kohta tried to speak as he took deep breaths, hands on his knees.

Saya, upon hearing my voice, turns to look at me and folds her arms.

(Ohhh boi, toxic projectile incoming.)

"Well, we're now on foot with no protection, now what?"

(Wait, she is not throwing any toxic waste at me? I call this 'progress'..)

Following Saya's question, I take off my bag and pull out the map.

"Now, we become tourists." I say as I wave the map.

"Huh!?" Saya frowns loudly.

"I don't know this part of town very well. So we'll have to use the map to figure out where we are and where we need to go." I say while looking at a road sign, so I could pinpoint our current location.

"We're still in a police protected location, so we should be relatively safe from any surprise attacks by corpses. Though if we somehow 'are' caught by surprise in this packed location, it won't end well for us." Finishing my explanation I returned my attention back to the map.

A couple of minutes later the whole group had formed a circle around me.

"There are multiple roads we can take that lead to the park, our meeting location." Saya speaks up first.

"Yes but we first need to find a way out of the evacuation route, or at least the area secured by the police." Saeko adds.

"The Police have already blocked most of the roads though." Kohta continues.

"So we have to backtrack until we find an opening to the cordon and then go from there." I continued after Kohta.

"The further away we go from the bridge the easier it will be to find an open road to slip through… so I think your logic stands." Saeko finishes before we all nod to each other and get ready to start walking.

As the group started walking. I began to dig my hand in my pocket, and then took out the bus keys. I then lifted my hand in front of my face with the keys dangling under my fingers.

"Wait, are those… the bus keys?" Shizuka, who was next to me, points at the keys as she keeps blinking, her eyes wide open.

"Yiap." I answer while looking at the keys.

The rest of the group then turns to me

"You stole, the bus keys?" Saya asks incredulously, but I could see a slight smirk on her face nonetheless.

"Yiap" I replied once more, still looking at the keys as they glittered in the sunset.

"When did you even… ?"

"When you shot at Shido." I cut off Kohta as I keep looking at the keys.

I spin the keys on my finger before throwing them to my left. Over a makeshift fence that blocked off a rather dark alleyway.

"They wanted to throw their weight around, it's about time they lose some by walking." I say with a shrug before I start moving forward.

"That joke was awful." Saya rolls her eyes as she shakes her head, though she was, smiling.

"Ehh." I shrug as I keep walking.

(Bad joke or not, the whole thing did put a smile on the whole group, so it was worth it. And to add to that, with no bus, there is a chance that Takagi's house will not fall. Two birds, one stone.)

We decided to go from a different path down the road, so we wouldn't end up returning to the bus. And other than the occasional cop telling us that we should be going in the opposite direction, nobody really tried to stop us.

And as we kept going, I could slowly see fewer and fewer people around. In the end, it didn't take too long for us to move away from the mass of escaping citizens.

"I have stopped seeing the police for some time now." Kohta says as he looks around the road we were on.

"Most of them are probably concentrated near the bridge and along the main roads leading there. But this also means that there should be an opening for us soon. And corpses are going to become a threat again." I say as I keep walking.

And, I was right. It did not take too long after that for us to start seeing corpses that were headed towards the bridge, along with several unbarricaded roads.

"It seems we can change directions from here and start going towards the park." Saya speaks up.

"Alright. Thing is, we can't walk through corpse infested streets like we're going for a picnic. We need to change our positions. Takagi and Miss Marikawa, both of you stay in the center of the group. Uhhh, Kohta you can take the back. You have limited ammo so you shouldn't waste it on corpses that are no threat to us, fire only if they have a chance to surround us, okay? Busujima, I trust that you don't have a problem being on the front?"

"Remind me who made you leader again, that you can order me around?" Saya butts in before Saeko can respond, the glare on her eyes ever so obvious.

(Of course, if it's not Takashi ordering her around then she gets like this… ughh, I want protagonist privileges. Or at least a Takashi ray.)

Just as I was about to open my mouth.

"Takagi, Sepfier is right. We can't move around carelessly now, what if we get ambushed and you are the one in the front or back, can you fight in close quarters?" Saeko speaks up

Saya just glares at Saeko before turning her head away and going to the center of the group, obviously annoyed.

"And I'm nobody's leader Takagi. Mostly because I don't want to be responsible for other people's lives. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to keep us alive… All of us."

With that, I positioned myself behind Saeko.

"With that said, I'll be checking the map to scout different routes while we're on the move, in case we find a dead end. But you can count me in, in case things go south. "

Saeko answers me with a nod.

"Alright everybody, lets gooo!" Shizuka pumps her fist in the air while trying to make an... angry? expression...

(Aaaand the tension just dropped to zero.)

"Alright everybody, noise to the minimum from now on." After saying that, I turn my attention to the map and we start walking down the corpse infested streets…

(Ok, focus. No pressure, I'm just responsible for our route, what's the worst that can happen? Drive us headfirst into a dead end with a horde on our tail?...Me, you're horrible at pep talks)

Walking down the street, I simultaneously kept an eye on the map and to the front, while Saeko dealt with any corpses that got too close by going all ninja on their ass. Which was mostly her sliding behind them and cracking their collarbones/heads with a sideways slash.

(Damn… she's as good as shown in the anime. Gotta have to ask her to teach me how to do that.)

Reaching the first intersection, we find our initial planned route blocked. Crashed cars had pretty much cut off the road we wanted to take.

Saeko stops and turns to me.

I nod and look around the road we're on, along with our position in the map. The park is to the northeast, in other words, we need to go straight and then left. The most direct route to it, being going east, which was straight ahead, was blocked. So we could only go left to the north or, take a detour and go right to the south.

Problem is, the road leading North had a truck blocking most of the road, leaving either a small space to squeeze through or forcing us to go under it. Saeko turns to me and points at the North road and I negatively shake my head, pointing to the southern one.

"Too risky, too large of a chance that we'll get trapped." I whisper to her. She nods and turns back around. Then we take a right turn and head down the road.

The corpses here did not even notice us. Most of em' were either clustered in one side of the road or were shambling towards the loudest nearby sound, that usually being a running car engine. Thanks to that, we reached the next intersection with no problems. And once more, Saeko stopped and turned to me for directions.

This time we did not have much of a choice, we needed to go left or we would be moving even farther away from the park. Thing is, the corpses on that road were moving towards us, or towards our direction at least. Even so, we start heading towards that road after I point Saeko to our left. Thankfully, the road didn't have many corpses so we could somewhat safely pass through. The only real problem was that they were scattered around in the street and not gathered on one side like in the last road. Nothing that Saeko couldn't handle though.

Once we safely passed the corpses and reached the next intersection it was my turn once more.

(We are doing pretty well on staying undetected so far, but something is bothering me.)

I lift my head from the map and look behind Saeko, who was looking at me, to the road ahead.

(The road ahead seemed to have progressively more corpses the further I see, all walking towards us. Towards the west.)

I then walked to the middle of the intersection with Saeko following close behind me and looked at the two other roads.

(The corpses that are on the left and right part of the intersection have both crowded onto one side of the road. If the walls were not there, they would be heading west too.)

I then walk back to the group.

"There is something important we need to check. " I speak up to the group.

"Is there a problem?" Kohta asks.

"We need to go straight, but I'm getting some really bad vibes with how all the corpses are actually shambling towards us when we try to go on the road that heads east." I say as I point at the road ahead of us.

"Yea on the road we passed by, had all of them gathered on one side, wonder why?" Kohta scratches his head…

And after a few seconds of silence...

"...The mass of civilians on the bridge!" Saya suddenly speaks up, as if receiving an epiphany.

(Shit, she's right. How could I frigging forget that? The noise produced from all the annoyed drivers honking their horns, plus the cops that were using megaphones or opened fire at the stray oncoming corpses. And you have yourself one loud ass dinnerbell.)

"They are all being attracted towards the commotion the people are making back there. With the rest of the island's source of noise not being so strong. The bridge, with such a large number of people and vehicles, is one of the loudest sources of sound left." Saya says calmly while folding her arms.

I take a deep breath as I internalize the really, REALLY bad news.

"Ok… we will head straight, for now. But be ready to fall back if things get out of control." I say as I point at the road ahead, before focusing on the map again.

The group nods, and we start moving straight ahead, through another group of corpses.

It sadly also didn't take too long to verify that the corpses only increased in number as we started going down that road.

So much so, that I decided to put my 'class' on hold. As I turned around and gave the map to Shizuka, then took the bat out from the side straps of my bag.

(I can see even more of them coming, we need to get off this street fast. Can't waste time being sneaky about it.)

"We can't waste time on this road. We'll run down the road, after we reach the intersection, we'll go left, the corpses should hypothetically be all clogged to one side of the road there. Kohta, keep an eye for any corpses that might surround us." I finished speaking and moved next to Saeko.

"I can see even more of them shambling our way, we need to get off this street fast. We are going to take the right part of the street as it has less of them and carve a road. Kill em' or knock them down, whatever floats your boat. As long as they are disabled or at least unable to grab the ones running behind us, do whatever you want. I got your back on this one" I say, turning my head to Saeko.

She doesn't even take her eyes off the incoming corpses as she nods… and smirks.

(Oh, sadist alert.)

With a silent dash, Saeko ran forward to the nearest corpse. I start sprinting, not far behind her.

(They are not clogged together so we should be able to make a path.)

Saeko ignores the first one in front of her and goes for the second nearest corpse. Landing her bokken right on its head, the corpse collapses on the spot. The sound of the body hitting the ground causing the corpses around her to turn their attention towards her. Which in turn caused the corpse that she ignored to turn its back to me.

Not wasting time, I run behind the corpse. And before it could turn around, the side of its head met the wrong end of my bat, sending the corpse in a violent trajectory towards the floor to my left.

Saeko takes a quick glance at me before she then again charges to a distant lone corpse on her right.

Repeating the process, I ran towards the closest corpse to the left as they started to turn towards Saeko. I close in to the nearest one and swing smack-dab on the thing's mouth, the impact causes the corpse to stumble backwards and fall while its teeth went flying left and right. The corpse next to it did not manage to get too far either, as it got a nail on the face before it could even get close to me.

With these corpses out of the way, there were only two of them left blocking our way.

I saw Saeko running towards the one on the right so I, again, went after the one on the left. Right as Saeko closed in and swung down on the right one's head, I charged into the left one, taking a running swing at its head.

As both corpses fell, I took a quick look behind me to see the rest of the group running, following our path religiously.

With the way now looking clear enough for a straight run, the whole group dashed past the stumbling corpses, making it to the middle of the intersection.

Looking to my left, I see that that the road had indeed corpses that were all gathered on one side. Theory confirmed, I continued running to that road until I was out of the intersection that had us face the corpses head-on. After we all made it out of that street, I turned to the group and made the universal gesture for 'silence' with my hand, then started walking down the road. Picking up distance from whatever corpse might have heard us.

Once we were relatively away from any corpse that caught a whiff of us, I stopped walking and took a few deep breaths.

Shizuka comes up next to me and extends her arm, the map in her hand. I nod and take my map back. Looking at it, I put my finger on the intersection we were now on.

(All of this, just to move two blocks towards the correct direction...)

I take my eyes off the map and look at the sky.

(And it's starting to get dark. All the while, we still have like fourteen blocks to go.)

I turned my sight back to the map as we started moving down the road, towards the next intersection.

Reaching the next turn was pretty easy this time around, with all the corpses being on one side once more. Once there, I turned to look to my right.

And...

"You gotta be joking" I slightly dropped my shoulder as I stared at what lay ahead.

"Too...many" Kohta speaks up after me.

The rest of the group just stared.

Many, was an understatement. A thousand might also be an understatement too.

The road ahead was not just clogged, It looked like a sea of walking corpses.

All walking towards, Us.

"We need to find a place to hide by the wayside. Right fucking now." I say, as I turn to the group.

"One of the houses nearby?" Kohta asks.

"A house won't do, too large of a chance that it'll be locked. Furthermore, we don't have the time to check each house with 'that' approaching." Saya answers to Kohta, pointing at the horde coming towards our direction.

"Then what do we do?" Kohta asks again.

Saya clenched her fists and lowered her head, her eyebrow twitching.

(Seriously? Is she going to start shouting here? NOW?!) I darted my head around, looking for a place we could hide.

"The store, we can go to that store. Stay on the top floor and just barricade the stairs" I say pointing my arm towards a two-story sports store that was near the corner of the street.

"That store has walls made of glass. You do understand how risky it is to stay there, right?" Saeko adds after me.

"I'm open to suggestions. I would stay on a roof right now if need be." I say back to Saeko in a joking manner.

"That might not be a bad idea actually." Saeko responds, causing me to raise my eyebrow.

"Yeah if you want to freeze to death." I say as an answer to that statement.

"OH, oh! I know! If we stick close together we won't be cold." Shizuka pops in and says something ridiculous with a beaming face.

Causing Kohta to have the oh so famous nosebleed after he started staring at Saya. Something which she answered by punching Kohta in the face before turning her face to me. Only to realize that I was also looking at her.

"What! You want one too?!" Saya puts her hands on her hips and leans her upper body towards me.

Trying to keep a poker face, I speak up.

"No time left… To the sports store it is." I start running towards the store without waiting for the rest. Saeko giggles as she runs behind me, Saya following Saeko while she kept on fuming, Kohta following with a stupid expression of bliss on his face and Shizuka with her finger on her mouth, ever oblivious...

(Perfect time for some comic relief universe. It's not like we are five minutes away from certain death!)

I kept grumbling in my head until I made it to the store. Looking through the glass wall, the place looked deserted. Getting near the door also caused it to automatically open up.

(Not good, this door will open wide the moment a corpse walks by. Even if it's rather silent, the corpse might hear it and stroll into the store.)

I turn to the group.

"The insides look clear but we can't be sure what lurks in the corners. Stay on guard until we make sure this place is safe." I say while looking at the oncoming sea of corpses.

"The door will attract a lot of the corpses if it keeps opening every time something walks by it." Saeko points at the door that was now wide open.

"Yeah, we will need to find the circuit breaker and shut down the power on the first floor or at least bring down the shutters. Otherwise we'll have to make the door stay open… At least with it stuck open it won't make any noise." I say as I turn my attention back to the store and head into it, with the rest of the group following suit.

We quickly search the first floor for corpses, and find it empty. Saeko, Kohta and I then spread out to search for the circuit board.

Mid search, I went to the glass wall to check how close we were from being ripped apart.

(Shit we're cutting this way to close. No way we can risk closing the shutters now.)

And then, the lights went out, I also think I heard one of the girls yelp?

As the sun was almost out, the first floor turned eerily dark now. Not to mention the moaning from all the corpses outside did not help with the eeriness at all. Not wasting time, I move away from the brittle glass wall and start heading towards the second floor.

The rest of the group did not wait much as well. Either because they did not like the dark floor, or because the corpses were starting to flood the streets in front of the store.

We silently go to the second floor and start checking for any unwelcome guests.

(Finding a corpse now will be really bad. We could end up attracting a whole shitstorm from the outside if we fail to kill it silently.)

Thankfully my fear was unfounded as we found the second floor empty as well.

"Alright… look for stuff you can carry to barricade the stairs. No heavy stuff that needs to be pushed, the screeching would actively kill us." After I finish my sentence the group nods and starts looking around the second floor.

A couple of minutes later. We had erected a pretty lame barrier of chairs, boxes and duct tape.

(Using that duct tape was a nightmare. Pull it too fast and it would make a sound like a goddamn siren… Or I'm just that much on edge.)

Leaving the duct tape on a nearby counter, I look back at the group before we all headed deeper into the store's second floor. Away from that poor excuse of a barrier…

We grabbed some chairs and gathered in the far end of the store, near the glass wall of the second floor, and looked at the sea of corpses below us.

(Ok a thousand might have been an overstatement, but there are still way too many of them.) I think as I looked down at the passing horde.

I then get up from my chair.

"I'm going to take a look around the second floor. It might have some sleeping bags or something. Also… uh, turn down the lights. That glass window will make this room shine like a beacon right now. We can't afford to pick up more survivors, not right now at least." I say as I leave the group behind, giving a last glance at Saeko who simply nodded at me.

I could feel the group staring at me as I walked away.

(I know Saeko agrees with me, she says the exact same thing later. But the rest of them did not seem too keen on trying to avoid helping others. No matter, we still need to keep a low profile. I don't want to risk attracting any crazy chainsaw-wielding clown here.)

Walking around the store's second floor I stop by the ski section.

(Winter sports should have something worth of use.)

I kept looking around until I stopped by something that caught my eye. And just stayed there… Staring.

(I am… In love.)

I move to the hangers and pick up… a black ski mask.

(Carbon fiber frame, polycarbonate visor, it even has its own balaclava.)

I grab the mask and balaclava pair, along with a second balaclava and go to the bathroom.

I always liked masks and helmets. Maybe because of their faceless visage. Or well, maybe they just look cool in my eyes.

Opening the sink, I toss the second balaclava in the running water before using it as a towel to clean my face of whatever crap might have been stuck on it. I then put on the balaclava that came with the mask and then put on the mask itself.

Mask in place, I look at myself in the mirror.

(I feel like the coolest kid in town now. Or the biggest tacticool tryhard.)

Leaving the bathroom, mask still on, I return to the ski section of the store.

(The visor does not hinder my sight, I can still hear normally. Nice.)

I kept looking around the ski section as the mask gave me another idea.

(Forearm guards, leg guards, knee guards. This place is a frigging treasure trove.)

Grabbing some equipment, I start gearing myself up.

(I would rather wear something completely black. But carbonfiber is tougher and lighter than whatever else is in here. Also, judging from the price tag on these things, I have to guess that it is high-quality carbon fiber too. Whoever owned this place either had cash to bet on products, or just didn't care about profits that much.)

After I geared myself up, I looked at a nearby full body mirror.

(Got to check that these things don't make me sound like a dinner bell before getting hyped… On second thought, risking making any sounds while a sea of corpses is nearby might not be the brightest idea.)

With the usual 'ninja test' not available. I started gyrating in place and did some stretches as silently and slowly as possible to see if any parts would get in the way. This way, any parts that could potentially make any sounds as I move can be ascertained without actually risking everybody's life…

Several minutes later, tests done, I concluded that the knee pads had to go, as they seemed to restrict my movement too much while also moving the most as I stretched.

After getting rid of the knee pads, I did some stretches again until I finally could say that my range of movements was the same as before and my new gear didn't slide all over the place.

(As silent as I was before getting the new gear. Now, sleeping bags.)

I kept looking around at the ski section until I found a map that displayed the whole second floor floor plan from a top-down view.

(No sleeping bags in the ski section so far… Let's see, the ski section is where I'm at. Hmm, what section would contain what I'm looking for? Could be… hmmm, hiking?)

Before leaving, I grab an extra pair of knee and arm guards.

(For Saeko.)

Nodding to myself, I turn around and start heading to the hiking section. After getting there, it didn't take too long for me to find some sleeping bags.

(Let's see I need five, seven if we count the other two, eight if we add Alice. But good luck explaining that to the group.)

I picked the seven most expensive sleeping bags and tied them together, making a weird-looking caterpillar 'thing' in the process. Then I grab the new 'lifeform' and start moving back towards the group.

Returning to the group I see Kohta looking dejected, Saeko smiling, Saya being beet red and Shizuka being... herself.

(I get the feeling that I just missed something that would make me really REALLY salty.)

Getting near the group caused them to turn their heads, first to the sleeping bags… And then to me.

"Oh… hey Naier, found anyth...ehhh?" Kohta forgot whatever reason made him dejected in the first place and just stared at me, mouth gaping like a fish.

"Sleeping bags… and the thing I'm gonna be buried with." I say giving a few knocks to the mask.

"Ohh?" Saeko turns to me. I could see an ever slight smirk on her face.

(Wait, do I also look like a sadistic psychopath now?)

Saya just stared at me in silence, not speaking at all.

"What… did it leave you speechless?" I say to Saya while tilting my head to the side. I was actually smirking but nobody could see that.

She jerks her head seemingly snapping out of whatever it is she was thinking about.

"Idiot." Is all she said as she turned her face to the window.

I could also hear a subtle, yet constant 'ummmm' coming from Shizuka, so I turned my head to her. She was staring at me...intensely.

(This is not awkward at all.)

"Power ranger." She says, clapping her hands softly together, causing me to facepalm.

I could hear the girls chuckling, even Saya. Kohta for some reason seemed to be stuck in 'fish mouth' mode though.

And then his stomach growled… hard.

"What, so hungry to the point that you're lagging?" I asked as I walked towards my bag.

"Well I haven't eaten all day, I can't help it." Kohta says, looking dejected once more.

Opening my bag, I looked over at the food I packed. A disappointed sigh came out my mouth as I realized that most of it was. Not in that good of a condition anymore, at least they're still edible?

"Pork, cheese curry, pizza, plain cheese, shrimp or cod roe?" I say while rummaging in my bag.

While I was actually asking Kohta, I know that the rest would probably be hungry as well.

And I was right, as they all leaned towards my bag.

"Huh… what?" Kohta asks, still looking like a fish.

"Choose one of them, commando. C'mon chop chop, you're holding the line and I have Post Op packages to deliver.." I say trying to act like an employee in a packed fast food store.

"Uhhh P...pizza." He responds with a slight stutter.

I take the bun that had 'Pizza' written on the label and throw it at him. He awkwardly catches it before realizing what was happening.

"Ohh… ehh, thanks Naier" He says, opening the plastic wrap and taking a bite into the bread, his face turning into one of pure bliss.

"Next." I say.

"Can I have the shrimp one please?" Saeko asks, still leaning slightly towards me.

"Here ya go." I give the shrimp bun to Saeko and she gives me a slight bow before taking the bread.

Then I turn to the two that were left. Shizuka was seemingly in deep thought. And Saya also seemed to be thinking. Not the most similar of people to be deep in thought.

"UMMMM, Cheese curry." Shizuka finally speaks up and I hand her the one she asked for, she takes it with a giggle.

Saya was the only one left now.

(I guess our princess is also a picky eater?)

"...Cheese..." she says in a low tone of voice.

(Hmm I expected that she would take the more expensive one...)

I take the plain cheese bun and hand it to Saya

"...Thanks" she then turns her attention back towards the window.

I shrug and grab one of the two buns that remained without looking. I lifted my mask and pulled my balaclava down until it was under my chin, opened the packaging and took a bite.

(Hmmm, pork.)

As I kept eating though I noticed something strange.

Saeko was staring at me, and so was Saya, and Kohta… and even Shizuka,

This went on for a couple of minutes until.

"The Ninja Penguin."

I didn't even realize who said that before the whole group was trying their best not to spit their food out of their noses.

(Oh come on! I don't even have anything remotely white on me!)

I slowly lower my mask while still chewing

"You're all just jealous of my cool new mask." I say to the group while they were trying to regain their bearings.

I think I saw some tears running down Saeko's cheek during all this, which honestly is a first. Even if I were to add the whole anime in there.

After we're finished 'eating' we start preparing the sleeping bags so we can spend the night.

We decided that we will go with three shifts of single person guard duty while the others slept. Just in case something happens. I was to be the first one on guard so I grabbed a chair and took a seat.

As everybody started getting ready for bed, I saw the extra equipment I picked up for Saeko, tossed to the side.

(Must have fallen there when I dropped the 'sleeping bag entity'.)

I get up and grab the equipment, then head to Saeko, who was sitting alone by the window.

"Hey, Busujima." Reacting to my voice, Saeko turns towards me.

"Since you are gonna be close and personal out there I think you could put these to good use."

I say as I hand her the stuff I picked for her.

"Hope you don't mind the color though. I don't rank very high in fashion sense."

"Ohh, thank you Sepfier." Saeko bows after putting the equipment on her lap and smiles at me.

"And now I'm not going to be the only power ranger here. Goodnight Busujima."" I say as I let out a small chuckle and turn around.

"Goodnight...ninja-pe."

"Naier...just… Naier." I turned around and cut Saeko off before she could throw me that last side jab, then turned back to walk towards my chair...I could hear muffled giggling behind me now.

"All of you are just jelly of my cool mask."


	11. Hope you don't mind walking

"YOU GIVE THAT BACK GODDAMNIT!" I shout, chasing after Saya.

"YOU WILL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE!" Saya screams, throwing a glance back at me.

She was running like a rugby player, with a rather giant sweetroll under her arm.

"GIVE ME BACK MY SWEETROLL!" I screamed as I kept sprinting towards her.

"KOHTA, CLOSE HER OFF!" I then shouted at Kohta who was running besides me with a plastic bow in his hands.

"YEEESSSSS… ARROW TO THE KNEEE!" He responds, using his plastic bow to fire an arrow aimed towards… me?

"TRAITOOOOOOR!" I shout as I fall face flat to the floor, the world around me going black. Turning myself around, I see Saeko looking over me.

"Let me guess, somebody stole your sweet roll" She asks with a deadpan voice as she keeps looking down at me.

"YES!" I shout back.

And just then, Saya walks up to me, the sweetroll… gone.

"Sepfier." She says while staring at me.

"Where is ma sweetroll woman!?" I respond, glaring at her.

"Sepfier" She says once more, seemingly ignoring what I just asked her.

"Yes that's my name, now where is..."

"SEPFIER!" She cuts me off before I could finish.

"WHAT!?" I shout back at her.

"...Goddamn it you masked idiot." Upon finishing her sentence, my vision starts shaking violently.

Closing my eyes, I felt like I was once again falling down…

After a few seconds of gliding through the darkness, I open my eyes. Only to myself staring at the ceiling of the sports store. With Saya leaning over me as she kept shaking me.

With… quite the shakingly tantalizing view if I might add.

"He even went to sleep while wearing that mask… idiot." She groans as she keeps shaking me.

(She probably doesn't realize I'm already awake, as the mask's shaded visor hides my eyes.)

After some seconds, she stops shaking me and just sits there, staring...

(Ok...it's getting way too awkward with the way she's staring at me now.)

"If you keep staring at me like that, things will start getting weird." I speak up without moving.

Saya remained rooted on the spot for a couple of seconds, probably processing the situation. Before turning beet red.

"Idiot, get up." She responds with a frown as she quickly stands up and starts walking away.

"Wait." I call out to her as I get myself to a sitting position.

She turns around and folds her arms.

"You… you don't happen to have a sweetroll on you… do you?" In response to my question, Saya just blinks at me and rolls her eyes.

"...Is that mask blocking the oxygen flow to your brain?" She turns around and starts walking away again.

"Idiot" She adds in a lower tone.

(That's four idiots in… five minutes or so? I think she's starting to like me.)

Chuckling to myself I shimmied out of my sleeping bag and rolled it up. Only to realize that it's filled with wet spots. And no, not 'that' type of wet spots.

(Hmm, maybe I should get a new sleeping bag. My clothes were drenched in corpse blood and I didn't take them off before sleeping yesterday. Well, no need to spend too much time thinking about it, it's not like these things cost me anything.)

Looking around, I could see the rest of the group scattered around the second floor. Nodding to myself I toss the ruined sleeping bag aside before picking up my bag and start walking towards the hiking department.

Getting there, I pick another expensive sleeping bag and roll it up as tight as I can. I then open my bag, and take out the remaining buns that I didn't try to offer last night, as they were in a less, pristine condition. Aka squashed.

(I don't know about the rest of the group, but I'm still eating these. Definitely not the time to be picky.)

With that thought in mind, I finally place the rolled-up sleeping bag snugly inside my bag.

(With the extra clothes being the only thing that takes up any real space now, I could stuff at least four to five sleeping bags in here if I roll them up tightly. As long as they aren't too large to begin with at least.)

Plan in mind, I start looking around the hiking section for the extra sleeping bags, trying to find a good balance between the size and the probable quality by its price tag.

I was mid search when I heard footsteps behind me. Turning around, I saw Saeko.

"Good morning." As Saeko spoke I noticed that she was wearing the stuff I gave her yesterday.

"Morning." I answer before turning my head back to the sleeping bags of decent quality that I found.

"Getting a new sleeping bag?" She asks as she walks up next to me.

"Yeah, I don't know about you. But I didn't exactly sleep in clean clothes, and my sleeping is in an atrocious state. So, I was thinking of getting a new one along with some spares, now that I still got the chance."

Saeko stays silent, seemingly in thought.

"I will pack five of them in my bag, so if you have any preference better tell me now." I add up as I point to my bag.

"I see, thank you. Any sleeping bag will do for me." She nods with a slight smile.

"Also, the only breakfast we have right now is mashed buns." I then point next to my bag at the packaged, squished food.

Saeko nods, walks up to the buns and picks them up. Leaving one behind.

"I will go ask if anybody else wants one, is that alright?" She asks, holding the buns in her hands.

"Just tell the rest of the group that they will be getting new bags as well. This sports store has some very good backpacks we could use. " I nod to Saeko as I speak.

"Alright, I'll call everybody here after they have eaten." she turns around and leaves after nodding.

A couple of minutes later, packing finished, I had taken my mask and balaclava off and was with a wannabe bun in my mouth.

(Ok... let's see. Right now I have five sleeping bags, a swiss-knife, a compass, a map, a flashlight, a spare change of clothes and a screwdriver in my bag. My bag is packed full with the only place left to add stuff being the outside pockets for small stuff like a gun magazine, and the side straps, probably for weapons of some kind. At least now that the rest of the group will have bags, we can get all the sleeping bags we need, along with space for anything we might need later. Ammo does take up space after all...Huh, I need to find the lone survivor and ask him how he can carry two hundred rockets when the only thing he's wearing is a blue tight suit.)

After I was done eating, I covered my face once more and then spent the next half hour picking bags that the rest of the group could use...

I must have lost track of time looking at bags, as I didn't realise when the whole group had gathered to my location. Until I turned around to find them all looking at me.

"Good morning, Saeko informed you of why I needed you all here?"

The group nods at me.

"Alright. Well, pick a bag that you like."

The group nods once more before spreading out, browsing the bags that were around.

(I admit, I sorta expected Saya to be all bitchy about it. But it's good to see that she's willing to at least take a bag… Even if it's a small one from what I can see.)

A couple of minutes later, the group seemed to have decided on their picks. With everybody except Kohta picking a medium-sized bag. Kohta, on the other hand, had picked a giant hiking bag, the thing being about half as tall as him.

"Uhhh… Kohta. Will you be able to run if that bag is full?" I ask as I scratch my mask with a raised eyebrow.

Kohta thinks for a bit before going back and taking a medium-sized hiking bag. It was still quite bigger than what the rest picked though.

(Well he is the go-to guy in regards to guns so it should be fine. Worst case scenario we just ditch the bag… He's probably thinking about ammo space over mobility or something.)

I nod to myself before speaking.

"Alright. I myself have five sleeping bags in my bag. See if you can toss the ones you used and get new, clean ones when you have the chance. You should also pack some spares just in case" I say as I point to the sleeping bags I had gathered on the floor.

The group looks at the sleeping bags and then back to me, silent.

"Should we really use so much space just for sleeping bags Naier?" Kohta was the first one to ask.

(Judging from the look on their faces, they either all think the same thing or they're still not used to the mask. If it's the latter though, then tough luck. The mask stays.)

"Ask me that again when you'll have to sleep on a dirty, rough, cold floor because your sleeping bag is in worse condition than the floor. Being able to have a good night rest is as important as being fed or hydrated. Otherwise, sooner or later, you'll start making mistakes that you would otherwise not make, mistakes that could be fatal… Or would you rather carry sheets with you? Because, end of the world or not, I am not going to sleep on a blood soaked bed if I can avoid it. Thank you very much."

Thankfully the group, especially Shizuka and Saya, find my arguments to be rock solid as they started picking some sleeping bags of their liking.

And in total, we now had nine sleeping bags.

(Well, if they were not sold on the importance of spares, it's their loss. But at least now we got enough for little Alice as well.)

With the packing done, we moved to the glass wall so we could assess the situation on the street.

"The big mass of corpses seems to have moved away from the front of the store hours ago and the number of corpses that are moving towards the west have decreased drastically… Either because the civilians there have moved past the bridge or because..." Saya pushed her glasses with her finger while she spoke, her eyes focused on the street.

"Our rendezvous with Komuro was planned at seven, so we got some time until then." Saeko spoke up.

"It 's still nine am. So yes, we still got time on our hands. We can either go now and hunker down in the park, or wait and see if the corpses will decrease in number even more." After saying my opinion, I turn my head to the group.

"It should be fine if we leave now too. From the looks for it, most of the corpses that were nearby had already moved away. I just hope we won't find another hoard approaching if we start moving." Saya speaks up after me.

"So we leave now?" Kohta asks.

"I don't see a problem with it. The sooner we get to the park the more time we'll have to scout the area." Saeko starts moving towards the barricade after she finishes talking. Seeing that we're moving out soon, I take the swiss knife and map out of my bag and put them in my pockets before strapping the bag back on my back.

"Alright, we are leaving now then." I say as I start following behind Saeko.

Getting to the barricade, I cut the duct tape with my swiss knife before sliding it back in my back pocket.

(Hmm, I'm glad I bought this swiss army knife, quite useful. And in a pinch, I can use it to stab a corpse in their pterion. While the screwdriver is safer in terms of reach, the swiss knife is better than trying to poke them with my finger. Furthermore, I can keep the swiss knife close in hand. I can just pocket it without it becoming a nuisance, unlike the screwdriver. Which I constantly have to worry about stabbing myself in the kidneys when it's not in the bag.)

Going down to the first floor we find the glass wall intact and the insides clear of corpses, thank god for small miracles.

"Let's check if we can force the door open. Turning the power back up might cause too much noise with all the electronics on the floor starting up all at once." Saya keeps moving after speaking, heading towards the glass door.

"There should be a back exit too, or maybe a fire escape." Saeko adds up, following behind Saya.

Getting to the door we check if we can open it manually. But as none of us knew how the door even functioned in the first place, we came back with only negative results.

I then take a quick look around the first floor, my eyes stopping at the counter, or more correctly, the door behind it.

"There's an employee only door behind the counter, might have an extra exit there. As the panic probably started mid-working hours the emergency exits should be unlocked." I say as I start walking towards the counter...

Reaching the door behind the counter I grab the knob and turn it.

(Good, it's unlocked.)

I open the door to find a medium-sized room inside. Two sofas side by side with a medium-sized table in front of them. On the far right side, I could see a small fridge. And in the opposite direction of the fridge, a door with the fire exit sign on it.

(I just remembered… I am thirsty and I packed only one bottle of water. Definitely not going to last.)

I take a quick look around the room before going in, then head straight to the fridge.

Opening it, I see some ice-cold goodness. Actually, it was just water and some soda, but hey… I'm thirsty and we are in the middle of a zombie outbreak.

"We got some cold water here." I say as I pick a bottle, and the rest of the group instantly flocks to the fridge.

(In retrospect, it was pretty stupid of me to forget to pack more water. Well hindsight and all that.)

After the group emptied the fridge of any form of liquid, packing everything in their bags, they then started looking around the room for any other things we could use. While the rest of the group was rummaging around the room, I walked to the emergency exit and tried to open the door.

(Unlocked as well, we're in luck.)

Peeking my head out, I saw that the back alley was clear of corpses. It seems we could safely leave from here. I close the door and turn around towards the group.

"The door is unlocked, we can leave from here, no corpses that I could see. " I say pointing to the door behind me with my thumb.

"There is nothing else here we can use, we should go." Saeko speaks up right after me. We all nod and get ready to leave.

"Same formation as before?" I ask.

"Yes, I think that would be best," Saeko answers.

We then leave through the emergency exit with Saeko leading the way. We first walk through the alleyway and then back into the main road.

(The place is really empty compared to yesterday. Not that I'm complaining.)

"Alright. From here we need to go twelve blocks straight east and then two blocks north. The park then should be to our right side. The bridge is one-block away from there." I was looking at the map as I informed the group of the ground we need to cover.

The group nods, and we start our little 'trip' to the park.

(Wonder if Takashi and Rei spent all night driving. In the anime they didn't stop anywhere for the night when they met up with the group on the bridge… Makes me wonder if they will just pop out a corner while we're walking towards the park or something. Or if they decided to be all kinky about it and went to a hotel for the night.)

Yet as we kept going, no 'Wild Takashi' appeared.

(Huh, I vote kinky hotel. At least the streets ahead look almost empty of corpses. Let's hope it stays that way.)

With that, I turn my attention back to the map, walking behind Saeko and not really thinking of anything.

Three blocks later, the corpses were even smaller in numbers. I also started seeing a couple of them that were not moving west and were just shuffling about aimlessly.

We could also pretty much walk in a straight line now, without having a corpse blocking our way.

"So after we meet up with Takashi we go with his plan of meeting with our families?" Kohta, probably feeling less tense from the decreasing amount of corpses around speaks up.

"Yes." Saya answers bluntly.

"Speaking of which, where are your families located, everybody?" Shizuka asks.

(I'm not liking where this is going.)

"Mine have already passed away," Shizuka starts.

"The only kin I have left is my father and he is overseas overseeing a new dojo." Saeko speaks next.

"My parents are probably both at home on the other side of the Onbetsu bridge." Saya continues after Saeko.

"My parents are not in Japan. My father is a jewel merchant in Amsterdam buying supplies, my mother is a fashion designer in Paris."

(Ohh I remember this part with Kohta's crazy rich parents. I wonder why in the anime it is never shown that he is, well, very wealthy. Or it's shown and I don't remember it. Hmmm, as for the others. Other than Saya's parents and Rei's mother, we don't ever get a chance to see the rest. Although I'm pretty sure that the cop with the sniper in the last chapter of the manga is Rei's dad. That leaves...Takashi's mother.)

Finishing my thoughts I lift my head from the map and realize that the group is now staring at me.

(Great… Now they want to know about my family...they're all dead, the end...)

"Whatever family I have is in Europe and they tend to travel a lot, so I have no idea where they might be right now." I answer bluntly.

"You did not manage to contact them?" Shizuka asks.

"No, my phone could not reach them..." I answer once more.

(Actually, that was a lie, I never tried to contact them in the first place. I took the sim card out of my phone before the outbreak even started.)

The group fell silent, and before anybody else could speak I continued.

"There is no point thinking about it right now. What we should focus on right now is making sure that we don't end up dead before a chance to do something about it appears."

The group remained silent.

(Oh come on, they didn't seem to have a problem that Kohta and Saeko's parents were abroad, why are they so bothered about mine? Do they think that I might be feeling trapped here because I am a transfer student or something?)

After thinking for a bit I speak up.

"But what I do know at least. Is that my family would never wish on being the 'thing' that caused me to be depressed… or the ones around me. I intend to honor that wish."

(A family with good relations would never want to see other parts of it suffering, no matter the reason. And I know that my real family would think that, so it's not like I am lying to them right now… Right?)

"We should worry about arriving at the park on time, rather than worry about the people that are on the other side of the globe right now." I add up.

"Y...yes we need to make sure Komuro is fine." Saya finally breaks the 'mood' the group was in.

"I am sure Komuro and Miyamoto are fine, they are both more than capable." Saeko adds after Saya without turning to look at us. Kohta and Shizuka nod at Saeko's statement seemingly snapping out of whatever caused them to fall silent in the first place.

After that, nothing really changed until we got near the sixth east block.

"Looks like none of them are going west any more." Saeko speaks up.

"Yes I can see that. We are pretty far away from the evacuation route after all." Saya speaks next.

"Should not change much for us. They don't seem to increase in number, so we can still walk past them easily." I say as I look ahead.

With that observation, we kept moving forward.

"You think the horde from yesterday might have overrun the evacuation route?" Kohta asks.

"Doubt it. Probably ended up stuck on a barricade, or met a hail of bullets." I respond, still looking at the map.

(After all, the bridge falls to the horde while the group is in Rika's house, if that was the same bridge that is… highly probable though. No way the police is going to risk it and split their forces by having two evacuation routes.)

"The ones near the store were still going west. Meaning that there was still noise to attract them… So it seems very likely that the evacuation is still progressing normally." Saya answers after me.

"Still, it's amazing how so many of them can gather together." Shizuka speaks up after Saya.

"No, not really. They are attracted to sound, so if a small horde manages to form, then they would make enough noise to attract more of them. Which would make the horde bigger and that would, in turn make the horde louder, causing even more of them to follow the horde. Rinse and repeat until you get a large horde stumbling around gathering more corpses as they move." Saya looks at Shizuka as she speaks.

"Woow, you're really smart Takagi!" I hear Shizuka say in amazement.

"HUMPH, of course. I AM a genius after all!" Saya responds with a huff.

I tried really hard not to chuckle at Saya's last statement as it would probably make her furious. But, for some reason, I found it… really funny.

About fifteen minutes later we reached the eighth block.

Looking at the map I checked the remaining six blocks we had to walk through.

(I have not seen any type of blockade so far. So the bridge near the park wasn't used as an evacuation route? Also the corpses are starting to increase in number again, I guess we have reached the edge of where the corpses were attracted by the horde. Nothing too dangerous though.)

As we kept moving down the street I heard Saeko speak from the front.

"Sepfier, how far till the park?"

"4 blocks straight, two blocks after we turn left and we're there," I say in a low tone lifting my head from the map.

Saeko just nods without looking back.

(Because I don't know if we will be near Shizuka's house like in the anime, I wonder if we can find a car to get to Shizuka's house. If Takashi arrives with that orange bike, we'll have to do three trips in total, one to 'check' the place, two to move the group there. Too bad so far all the cars I saw were in a 'toss me to the scrapyard' condition.

Also, while I don't know where we are right now compared to the anime, I don't think going anywhere else other than Shizuka's house is a good idea. For...multiple reasons. More importantly, if we don't go there, we lose the guns and Alice dies. While I do think that we should not be taking in random survivors, knowingly leaving the kid to die after she just saw her dad getting killed is just. Yeah,no. I'm not that coldhearted...not yet at least.

There is a fine line between self-preservation and cold-hearted ruthlessness. And, at best, decisions like these are impossible to just paint in black and white. But leaving Alice to die when I can do otherwise is just… )

Upon reaching the twelfth block, finishing our journey to the east, I raise my head, look back at the group and speak up in a low tone once more.

"Next intersection we go left. Then after two blocks straight and we will see a park that takes up a whole block on our right, that's our destination."

I see the group nod before I turn my attention back to the map. Once we reached the intersection we moved to the center and stopped. Looking to my left I could see the street we needed to take.

(That road looks… more corpse ridden than the one we are on, but it should be traversable.)

I motion with my hand for the group to move and we start going down the left.

As we kept moving forward I could see an increase in crashed cars ahead of us. While they did not really block our way, it was kind of unnerving.

(I hope the bridge is not blocked by cars.)

As we kept moving forward… I came to a realization.

(Wait, the group never actually 'crossed' a bridge. They just used the humvee's ability to traverse through water and just drove through the river. I guess when the water level was not too high? I do remember reading that a humvee, if equipped for it, can go through one and a half meter deep water. Hm, At least that means I can stop worrying about whether the bridge will be blocked or not.)

With that off my mind, I continue walking behind Saeko. It did not take too long after we walked north until I heard Shizuka speak.

"We made it."

As the park slowly came into view, I started scanning the surrounding area for Takashi.

(I don't see any orange bikes around.)

The park was rather flat, and while it did have some patches of trees around there was no place in it to hide effectively. In other words, Takashi was not here yet.

"Alright we are here. I don't see Komuro anywhere, so now what?" Saya asks.

"The park looks relatively clear, so I don't see a reason to head towards the bridge. We could find a vantage point and just wait." I say, turning around as I took off my bag, opening it and putting my map back in, then taking my bat out of the side straps before wearing my bag again.

"And what can we use as a vantage point?" Kohta asks.

(Hmmm… good question. There isn't any elevated ground around here that could help block any corpses that wander too close while also letting us easily see Takashi.)

Looking around the area my eyes fell on a box truck, with the cab facing us, that was abandoned in the middle of the street a little further away from us.

(That could work, the cargo box is too high for the corpses to reach. I am sure I never saw the corpses actually climb anything. The truck itself seems to be abandoned and not crashed. So, maybe, we could also use it to get to Shizuka's house.)

I point at the truck to the group.

"We can use the cargo container of that truck and just wait inside. With the lifted entry and the fact that corpses, from what I have seen, can't climb we should be safe ins..." Before I can finish Saya speaks up.

"Komuro won't be able to see us if we hide in there idiot."

"...I got that part covered." I answer Saya.

(I really want to answer with 'don't worry I'll make sure your boyfriend sees us' but she will probably start shouting. And I don't need corpses on our asses while we are stuck waiting.)

"Soooo… box truck?" I ask the group.

The rest of the group looks around, seeing nothing else that can be used, they nod.

Making our way to the truck, with me in the lead, I realize why it was abandoned in the first place.

(The wheels on the truck are looking in different directions. I might not be a car expert… but i don't think it is supposed to do that. I guess driving it to Shizuka's house is a bust.)

I crouch down and check under the truck before getting too near.

(Nothing under the truck,but...)

I could see somebody standing near the back, where the cargo doors are.

I get back up and make a silence motion, putting my finger on my mask in where my mouth should be at. I then point at the truck and make a slit throat motion and start walking towards the back of the truck, keeping some distance from it. Saeko followed behind me while Kohta stayed behind with Saya and Shizuka.

After the back of the truck came into view, I could see a corpse leaning onto the right cargo door.

(A corpse is kissing the backside of the truck. Wait… that sounded wrong.)

I look at Saeko and nod at her.

She casually walks behind the corpse and takes a swing to the back of its head with her bokken, crushing its skull against the container.

While I was walking up to her she took hold of the handle that was on the container door. Before she could open the door, I grabbed the handle along with her hand, stopping her from opening the door.

"Wait… Not like this." I whisper pulling my hand back. She turns to me, raising an eyebrow.

"That corpse was trying to enter into the truck, meaning something had attracted its attention to get into that position we found it in the first place. Open the right door with your right arm and move away to the side while opening the door. If something pops out… it won't fall on you like that."

She keeps looking at me for a few seconds before speaking up.

"I see, thank you." She says, finishing her sentence with a slight smile and a nod before she moved to open the door with her other hand.

As she opened the door I took a step back.

While nothing instantly jumped out, I was not wrong. I could see a corpse slowly walking towards the opened door. I look at Saeko and motion her to wait and make a 'one' sign with my hand.

She nods and stands still behind the door.

The corpse just walks through the open door and falls out of the container, falling flat on the floor.

I walked up to it while looking inside of the container before putting my leg on its back and took a golf-like swing on the corpse's head, causing blood to splatter on the asphalt while the corpse stopped moving for good.

I then open the second door of the container.

"Clear." I say as Saeko walks up to me.

"Good news is, I'm pretty sure that corpses can't climb up here. The bad news is… that corpse that was in here makes the whole thing smell like, ughhh." I say as I look away.

"So, do we look for something else?" Saeko had her hand on her nose as she spoke to me.

Looking inside the container once more I saw an extra door on the right side of the truck's cargo box.

"No, wait." I say as I take a deep breath of fresh air and climb inside while holding my breath.

I walk up to the door and open it.

"This should let the air flow through, taking that stench with it…hopefully." I say as I turn back and hurried out of the container.

(There was not a lot of blood on the floor of the container so it should be easy to wipe it off as the container is made of, probably aluminum?)

I then move to the side of the truck and motion for the rest of the group to come.

After they got close I gave them a rundown of the situation.

"So, we'll wait a bit here before going inside. By the way, I know I've asked before, but, anybody got a handkerchief or a towel? There is some blood left in there from the last… occupant." I point at the truck behind me after I finished talking.

Also, take a guess on who was not pleased.

"Couldn't you find a place that was not. This?" Saya speaks up with a scowl on her face.

Shizuka, the angel that she is, takes off her bag and hands me a towel. Ignoring the little princess, I take the towel and climb inside the container, wiping whatever blood was on the floor.

"Got a plastic bag to put this in or do I toss it?" I turn to Shizuka.

"Toss it, I have more of them packed." She says as she puts the bag back on her back.

"Well the place already smells a lot better and it has not even been even two minutes yet." I say as I walk to the edge of the container.

I then turn around and put my foot on the bolts of the container's door, using them as a foothold, I then grab the roof of the container and pull myself up. With the roof over my hips, I raise one of my legs putting it on the roof before rolling sideways.

Still laying flat on the roof, I turn, belly down and slide myself until I can see the rest of the group under me.

"You are free to come up here if you don't want to be down there Takagi. Though you'll be stuck up here with me then." I say with a chuckle. Saya just huffs in response.

A couple of minutes later and some re-dead corpses, courtesy of Saeko, the rest of the group climbed in the back of the truck. I was just laying there, flat on the truck's roof using my bag as a pillow with my bat next to me.

(I don't wanna get up… this roof is weirdly comfortable.)

I could hear the group chatting silently under me, but I couldn't really understand what they were saying.

(I am really going to fall asleep like this. Well, Takashi should be on a bike, so I should be able to hear it. Yeah… No, I should really get up and keep a lookout.)

Groaning, I get to a sitting position and lazily look around me.

Whatever poor corpse had gotten near was long gone so the coast was mostly clear. As for Takashi, I could not see or hear anything.

(I wonder when they will arrive...)

I sort of lost track of time staring at the same scenery afterward. I was starting to nod off when I heard a small thud behind me. Turning around I see Saeko climbing the container.

"Need any he… never mind." Before I could finish my sentence she was already up.

"It's alright, but thanks for asking." She smiles before looking around.

"Anything worth mentioning?" She turns her attention to me.

"No movement. Not from anything alive at least. But it is still too early to get worried, we're supposed to meet at seven. We still got hours before that." I answer without taking my eyes off the streets.

"Hmm..." She keeps looking around. A couple minutes of silence passed.

(Psst. Hey brain, think of a subject… help a bro out. It is getting very awkward up here.)

And then… an idea pops in my head.

(Thanks brain, hope I am not going to regret this later.)

"Hey, Busujima." I speak up.

"Hmm?" She turns to me.

"I was wondering. Would you be willing to help me train?" I ask without turning my head to Saeko.

"Help you train?" She asks, staring at me and tilting her head.

At that, I turn my head to her.

"You're the president of the kendo club and from what I have seen in the school posters, you also won the national championship. But honestly, just seeing you fight was reason enough for me. Right now I am probably not much of a challenge to you. Hell, I don't think I'll ever be a challenge to you, but that isn't the point. The point is that you're able to protect the ones you care for when the need arises. I can't" I say as I fold my arms.

(God, that was cringy. Felt like I was reading a line from a B rated superhero comic. But I could not think of anything else to say that wouldn't make this whole situation weird. It's not like I am lying though. I do want to make sure the group survives.)

Saeko just smiles in response.

"If you don't mind me asking. Who are the ones 'you' want to protect?"

(Is she doing this on purpose?)

I stay quiet and look away, thinking of what to say.

"The 'ones' who would also protect me if need be." I say, turning my head back to her.

She stays silent for a while staring at my… mask? Before she smiles once again.

"Don't expect that I will go easy on you then, Sepfier." She says, still smiling at me.

(And I do believe I just dug my own grave.)

"Ok, so… do I call you teacher, master or something?" I say shrugging in the process.

Saeko just chuckles.

"I would prefer if you just called me Saeko, if you don't mind of course."

(She is definitely doing this on purpose now...)

I nod.

"Call me Naier instead of Sepfier, and you got yourself a deal." I answer to my future torturer.

Saeko nods at me before going back down to the rest of the group.

(Oook. Sooo, this just happened. It… it did just happen right? I did not actually fall asleep and dreamt it?)

After making sure Saeko had gone down I pinch myself.

(Yep, as real as it gets… Though now I don't know if I should be happy, or scared that Saeko might get a bit 'too' excited during our training and send me to a coma)

And then, the next couple of hours passed uneventfully, especially compared to that…

I was once again starting to nod off, sitting comfortably on the roof of the truck.

(Why am I so goddamn sleepy after getting on this stupid roof?)

At least I was sleepy, until the silence was broken by the sound of a rumbling engine. Whatever drowsiness I had disappeared as my head turned to the direction of the sound.

(Either Takashi is here, or I am about to get shot.)

I hurriedly went prone as I kept staring towards the sound that was progressively getting louder. The rest of the group, foolishly ran out of the truck after hearing the sound of an engine.

(If this isn't Takashi, they are really letting themselves become easy targets.)

With that in mind, I speak up.

"Don't break cover yet, we do not know who is coming. Stay focused until the last second"

The group looked at me as I laid flat on the truck's roof. Shizuka and Saya got back inside the truck while Kohta hid beside it, aiming down his nail gun at the upcoming source of noise with Saeko waiting next to Kohta.

The next couple of seconds felt like an eternity… until. I saw an orange bike with two people on it.

(And the hero arrives ladies and gentleman.)

I slam the roof with my hand to signal that it's safe and then jump down.

"Takashi is here." I say, to Kohta and Saeko.

The rest of the group quickly gets out of the truck and runs past me. Once the bike gets near, Takashi stops it and gets off. I didn't really feel like joining the whole thing, so I just stayed back keeping overwatch for any corpses that might have been lured by the bike.

And the corpses 'did' hear the bike. The ones that were scattered around the park were now walking towards us.

(We will have a lot of unwelcome company if we don't move out soon.)

"Uhhhh…and who is that?" I hear Takashi ask.

Turning my head I see him looking straight at me.

And before anybody could speak.

"Apparently I'm a penguin." I say to Takashi trying to sound as serious as I can.

Takashi and Rei just stared at me in confusion.

"Or you know, Naier Sepfier, take your pick." I speak up again.

"Oh… ohhh. Didn't realise it was you with the mask on." He says before turning to the rest of the group.

(It's not like I was the last person in the group you didn't see, way to show that you don't even remember I exist dude.)

"So uhh, what's with the bags? And where's the bus?" He asks.

"We picked 'em up on our way here. We'll explain what happened after we get away from here though. The sound of the bike is causing the corpses from the park and all around us to walk towards us. Let's just go to the bridge for now?" I say, to Takashi.

Without much of a choice the group agrees and we head to the bridge, pushing the bike with us.

Upon reaching the bridge. We see that it was piled up with crashed cars from end to end.

"Blocked off." I hear Kohta say with a dejected tone.

"We passed some other bridges on our way here. All of them were just like this one." Takashi speaks up.

(No surprise there, without the police maintaining order and safety, most people must have switched to an 'every man for himself' mentality the moment the panic started.)

We decided to head under the bridge before making a decision on what to do next.

On the way there the group explained how we bailed on Shido, how we stayed in the sports store, and how we got here.

"You… stole the bus keys, and then you tossed them away?" Takashi asks with a baffled look on his face.

(Of course he would ask that.)

"I prefer the term. Borrowed, permanently." I say with a shrug.

"Heh… bastard deserves it." I hear Rei speak up with a slight grin.

After some minutes of silence, we arrived under the bridge.

"So what do we do now?" Kohta asks.

And the group starts thinking of our next plan of action.

(Shizuka should think of her house...right?)

A couple of minutes pass. And the group was not making any progress, or more exactly. Shizuka was not making any progress.

(Seems I have to push this train along.)

"Wish I had a tank right now." I say folding my arms looking away from the group.

While the rest of the group just stared at me. Shizuka's brain gears finally started to spin.

Finally, she claps her hands together and smiles.

"Ohhhh! My friend's house has a car that looks like a tank" She says with a beaming face.

(Thank you, thank you, hold your applause.)

"I didn't think of it as it's a bit far from here..." She continues.

"Tank car? I vote yes." I say raising my hand.

"Is it an apartment? How is the view?" Kohta asks.

"Ohh it is a maisonette near the river, it has a great view and a convenience store nearby." She says.

(I don't think that's what he meant by the 'view' Shizuka. Then again, you are you.)

"Is it your boyfriend's place?" Saya asks with a sly face.

Shizuka then gets flustered as she starts hurriedly explaining how it's a female friend, aka Rika, that owns the house.

I turn around ignoring the group's idle chatter and look at the crashed cars at the bridge.

(Contrary to the anime. She now says that the place is not near. So walking is definitely not a good idea. We either need a second bike or preferably a car, or be forced to make three trips with the bike there.)

I start moving away from the group, looking around for any vehicle that might be in working condition. A couple of seconds later, I hear Kohta going on an excited ramble.

(We just got to part with the guns huh?)

"Naier, is something wrong?" I hear a female voice from behind me.

Turning around, I see Saeko looking at me.

"We will need more than just a bike if the place is far, or we'll have to make multiple trips with the bike. Not something I want to do if we can avoid it to be honest. If we could just find a second bike or a car." I say as I turn my head back to the street that was filled with wrecks.

A couple of seconds pass.

"Wait, Naier? When did you two..."

"He would not agree with Ninja penguin." Saeko cuts off Saya as she glances at me.

I then turn around and stare at Saeko.

(I am starting to think that she was the one who started this whole damn penguin thing.)

I raise my hand and take a deep breath. Only to just drop my hand with a sigh before turning around again.

A couple of minutes later Takashi spoke up.

"We need to check out the house first. Miss Marikawa and I will go check the place out."

"We could also just use the car that is parked there to get everybody all at once." Shizuka speaks up.

(True… but if any survivors spot the Humvee, I am pretty sure that they will try to tail it. That… could get us some unwanted visitors.)

Before the rest of the group could speak up I started talking.

"I don't think that it is a good idea. If that tank car is really as attention-grabbing as it sounds, we would get unwanted attention on us. Desperate survivors would use desperate measures, better to use it only when it is really necessary." I say to the group.

After some minutes of silence a decision was reached.

"Alright… we will return with the bike and see what we can do from there." Takashi drives off with Shizuka right after saying that.

The rest of the group spent the next ten minutes looking for any extra vehicle we could use and clubbing any corpse that got too near after hearing the bike. Sadly, we found nothing so we just decided to wait under the bridge for Takashi to return.

I had moved away from the group, leaning against a pillar.

(Let's see… the bike could probably take… four people if we really push it. Right now there is Me, Kohta, Takashi, Rei, Saeko, Saya and Shizuka. While there are only seven of us we will need somebody to drive the bike back. So it still balances out to at least needing two trips. What is left to decide is. How we'll divide the groups.)

"Thinking of something?" I turn my head to the voice to see Saeko next to me.

"How can we split the group without risking it too much, as we are stuck with one bike." I say looking at Saeko.

"And? What do you have in mind?" She asks.

"Well other than the obvious that we will need to make two trips of four people as the driver needs to bring the bike back. Marikawa needs to be in the first group as she has the keys and well, it's her friend's house. That leaves two other people and three that will have to wait." I say as I'm still looking at Saeko.

"Well this does seem to be the only problem, so it just leaves us to figure out who goes when." She says as she tilts her head.

"Not really… I also think the ones that stay behind need to be able to fight as they will be left exposed compared to being in the house. So that leaves Kohta, me, you and Miyamoto. Meaning one of us will go with the first group while the others wait." I fold my arms as I finish speaking.

"Hmmm, any idea who will go first?" Saeko asks again.

"I got… nothing." I respond, shrugging in the process.

"Well, we can figure this out after Komuro returns. After all, we don't even know if the house will be in a good enough condition to stay in." Saeko then looked at the street that the bike took off from before she walked back towards the rest of the group.

(I know the house will be fine though...)

A couple of minutes later Takashi and Shizuka return with the bike. After the bike comes to a stop and the group gathers around, Takashi says that the house is in perfect condition. And explains that the tank car is an armored jeep, aka the Humvee.

Saeko then pretty much says to the group what I just told her.

"So, who from the four of us goes with the first group?" Saeko asks.

The group stays silent for a minute.

"I'll go," Rei speaks up.

And with that, the group is split up again. Now it was me, Saeko and Kohta left behind. There was not much to do now other than waiting.

At least. For the other two… Me?

(Zombie outbreaks and rainbow puking unicorns… What I really need to do is prepare myself for what will happen in that house… I already feel my 'I am being salty' meter rising.)


	12. Break? what's a break?

(That's… one big ass house.)

I was standing in the driveway, next to Rika's home. The place was surrounded by a tall concrete wall, along with some fences that blocked any opening that was left open by said wall. In other words, we were safe. For now anyway.

(Still, this place is nothing compared to Saya's castle sized house. Even if I have never seen it before, the Anime made it obvious how big that place was...)

By the time I finally arrived here, it was already dark. Dark and rather silent, if you don't count the distant sounds of horns and commotion coming from the evacuation center on the bridge that is.

The trip here was also relatively safe, no real surprises there. Other than Kohta's nose bleeding on my back that is. But, well… I don't blame him. Four people on a bike after all, does translate to being stuck pretty close to each other. And Saeko decided to sit behind Kohta, the rest, sort of explains itself.

Now with Takashi being the only exception, the rest of the group had already moved inside. Takashi was still outside with me, moving the now silent bike towards the parking space behind the house. I had also given my stuff to Kohta as he went ahead of me.

I turn my head away from the house and look at Takashi while walking next to him.

(He actually looks much better now, considering how he looked before the outbreak...)

A couple of seconds later Takashi turns his head to me.

"Is there something wrong?" He asks as he parks the bike.

"Hmm… I'm just getting the feeling that you actually seem to be in higher spirits now. At least in contrast with how you looked back at school, where you wasted away at the stairs." I say as we park the bike, fold my arms, and start walking back towards the building's front door.

Takashi raises an eyebrow as he starts walking next to me.

"Uhh, sorry but..."

"You probably don't remember, but this ain't the first time we meet. We met once before the bus as well." I cut him off as I tilt my head.

Takashi just stares at me, seemingly in thought.

"Remember, no shit mode lasts forever. I guess it can always get much worse huh." I finish my sentence with a chuckle and turn to look at him.

And a couple of seconds later, he finally puts two and two together.

"Wait...you're, that guy?" He says, his eyes going slightly wide.

"Yes I'm that guy. Small world ehh, I'm actually surprised you remembered" I respond as I lift an eyebrow.

"Not many people spoke to me back then, and you kind of stood out." He answers as he scratches his forehead.

Before I could speak, Takashi continued.

"Look I'm sorry if I responded in a hostile manner back then. I was… not at my best. Also, thanks for helping the others after we split up." He then puts his hands in his pockets after he finishes talking.

"Don't mention it. Also, we were all helping each other, I did not go the extra mile or anything." I respond with a shrug.

Takashi was about to speak up again, when a wild Kohta burst through the front door, breathing heavily.

"Guys… you need to see this." He says as he points back into the house, taking deep breaths in the process.

(He probably found the metal locker with the bullets. No other reason for Kohta to be this out of breath over something. Not this early.)

Nodding to the excited Kohta I make my way into the house, Takashi following behind me. Once inside, I was about to ask Kohta where he left my bag, when I got distracted by a group of overly hyped girls near the bathroom.

"OHHH! I feel like I haven't taken a bath in months" I hear Shizuka squeal.

"Ughh, all this dried blood on my clothes is making me feel horrible, can we go already?" Saya 'asks' as she looks at the rest of the girls.

"The house has solar panels for heating water. So it should have hot water we can use right now" Shizuka adds with a smile.

"Well? Let's go already then." Saya groans as she starts walking into the bathroom.

After the girls left, while totally ignoring the three of us, we started going up the stairs.

(The girls better not use up all the hot water, or there is going to be a damn war in here.)

Going up the stairs, Takashi and I followed Kohta until he stopped in front of a door that led to a bedroom.

"There is a metal locker in here, and you won't believe what I found inside it..." Kohta grins as he grabs the doorknob. Going inside the room, Kohta walks up next to a metal locker and then turns to us.

"Bullets, there are bullets in here!" Kohta says as he points to the single open door of the double door locker.

"How about the other door?" I ask as I walk up to Kohta, already knowing the answer.

"It's locked, and that's what I needed help with. There's a crowbar in the unlocked part of the locker so we can use it to pry open the second door, and if there are bullets here, then…"

"I see shotgun shells. If there's a shotgun here, I call dibs. " I cut off Kohta as I comically crack my knuckle.

We were about to give the whole thing a try when. We heard the girls squealing from downstairs.

"They sure seem to be having fun in there," Takashi speaks up.

"Want to spy on them like real men?" Kohta asks.

"...I don't feel like dying yet," Takashi adds right after.

"Getting killed immediately is actually a blessing, considering that the girls will probably treat you like trash if they spot you. Good luck surviving in a group where almost half your team is giving you the stink eye. In any case, focus on the locker, or we'll never pry it open." I respond.

And just like that, we focused back on the closed door.

After shoving the crowbar in the gap between the door and the locker itself, Takashi and Kohta took position along the crowbar to push it.

(The crowbar is too small for me to also push, so I pull? That would mean that the guys will probably fall on me though...)

"Hey, Naier! Come on, grab the crowbar from the opposite side and pull. Kohta and I will push it." I hear Takashi say as he prepares to try and force the locker door open.

I sigh under my breath and grab the crowbar, then prepare to pull it towards me.

"Three, two, one. GO!" I start a countdown and with the last number, I start pulling the crowbar towards me.

A few seconds later, the door gives in and flies open. I quickly let go of the crowbar and jump to my right. Kohta and Takashi then fly right past me, landing face flat on the floor.

(And time for Kohta to go nuts.)

"And, we got guns." I say as I look into the now open locker from where I was standing.

(Three guns, like in the anime, no wait. There's… more?.)

Kohta, upon hearing the word guns, springs back up from the floor and pretty much sticks his upper torso in the locker. He then took the M1A1 out along with one of its empty magazines, before taking some steps away and kneeling down with the weapon.

While Kohta was drooling over the gun I walked over to the locker.

(I am pretty sure that these were NOT in the anime.)

I reach in the corner of the now unlocked locker and grab a belt with two stun grenades strapped on to it.

(These will definitely come in handy. They are insanely loud, and would work excellently as a distraction. Shame there's only two of them though)

I quickly strap the belt on my waist before grabbing the shotgun.

"Called dibs on the shotgun, so… this is mine now." I say as I hold the empty M37 Ithaca with both hands.

Kohta turned to me, his face one like from a kid that just got a mountain of Christmas toys.

"That's a..."

"Shotgun" I butt in, trying to stop the oncoming nerd talk.

Not that it stopped him from starting a long-winded infomercial on the gun's attributes and the use it had in the USA military. While Kohta kept talking, I turned towards the locker

(Later in the anime the shotgun also had a sling. I wonder if they got it from here…)

I looked around the locker for any rolled up fabrics. And, I did find several in the unlocked part of the locker. I grab the slings and unroll them to check their compatibility.

(Three two-point slings and two three-point slings. We got more slings than guns… the two guns that the rest of the slings are supposed to go with are probably with Rika. No matter, I'm taking one of the three-point slings. It will let me have the shotgun hanging on my sides without needing to strap it on the backpack every time I'm not using it. The two-point sling does not let me use the shotgun instantly without needing to take it off every time I need to use it, unlike with the three-point one. So the three-sided one is better)

By the time I was done thinking, Kohta had already started taking the ammo for the guns out of the locker.

"Hmm, there's plenty of ammo here. Enough to last a couple of heated firefights." I say, looking at the assorted carton boxes filled with ammo.

"Yea... I wonder who's that friend that Shizuka mentioned. She has a small armory in here." Kohta says as he keeps laying the magazines and ammo boxes on the floor.

"Somebody we owe a big friggin favor to." I respond with a chuckle as I start helping Kohta with the stuff. Takashi joins in after a few seconds, and a couple of minutes later. Everything was on the floor.

"We'll have to manually load the bullets in the magazines now." Kohta sits down after speaking and picks a magazine to load.

"You would expect that there would be a weapon clip to load the bullets in the mags quickly with everything the locker had inside. But, well… I'm just looking a gift horse in the mouth now." I say as I sit down opposite of Kohta and start loading a random magazine with its appropriate bullet.

After a couple of 'which way does the bullet go in' questions from Takashi, the three of us seemed to have found a rhythm to the monotonous task.

"You two are pretty good at this. Have you done this before with airguns?" Takashi asks as he glances at us.

"Nah… Real guns." Kohta says with a smirk, and then he starts explaining how he went to America and was trained by a PMC instructor on gun handling.

(Right, they will probably ask me about it now. So… what do I say?)

After Kohta was done he turned to me.

"Actually Naier, when we went to the gun range, you did pretty good considering. Have you used guns before as well?" Kohta asks.

"Wait, you two went to a gun range?" Takashi asks, his eyes going wide.

"Then again you did say you helped somebody with taking videos for hunting rifles so I guess. It's not that far fetched?" Takashi pretty much 'answers' his own question.

"Yeah as for before, I did go to a gun range occasionally." Is all I said as I kept loading the magazines.

The other two, seeing that I was not going to speak about it anymore, just let go of the subject and turned back to loading the bullets into the magazines...

About half an hour later, we were done with the magazine loading.

Takashi was now using the binoculars to look outside. Kohta was just sitting down looking at his new toys. While I kept practicing loading a shell in the shotgun and then pumping it back out, then picking it back up again and loading it back inside, repeating the process again and again.

(I need to get used to this. This shotgun has no way to easily reload after all, except for one shell at a time.)

I had also already attached the three-point sling on the shotgun and was actually wearing it right now, to get myself used to wearing it.

A couple of minutes passed like this, until we heard the girls again.

"They are being too noisy." I hear Kohta say, turning to him I see his face had a frown on it.

"It's fine. The corpses do react to noise. But all the noise we're making right now is being drowned out by… " Takashi trails off as he speaks.

"The evacuation center on the bridge. There's going to be a bloodbath there sooner or later. Most of the people there don't even know what is going on, and by being loud they are pretty much digging their own graves. Just be glad you are here and not there right now, that place is turning into a coffin and it's closing fast." I continued his sentence as I got up, the shotgun hanging on my side.

"By the way. Kohta, where's my bag" Kohta turns to me after hearing my question.

"I left it in the next room along with my bag." Kohta says as he points to the wall behind me before turning back to Takashi who started speaking again.

"Alright, thanks." I say as I move towards the door.

I was about to open the door, when the doorknob started turning by itself...

(Huh? Drunk Shizuka alert? Isn't it too early for her to be here though? The guys haven't even turned the TV on yet… Uhhh, focus.)

I silently walk to the side of the door, so once it opens it will cover me behind it. And the moment I slide behind the door, my view gets blocked as it opens.

Peeking out from the corner, I see Shizuka creeping up on Takashi, slowly getting on the bed.

(For being drunk, she is awfully silent...Wait, is she going to stay there laying on the bed staring at Takashi until the whole event with the TV happens? Yeah… I'm outta here. Have fun you two.)

With that, I silently move out of the room, closing the door behind me, and start walking away towards the room next door.

(How the hell can somebody get drunk in hot water anyway?)

Reaching my destination, I stop in front of it and carefully open it.

(Empty. Ah, and there it is.)

Going inside, I pick my bag and put some shells I picked up into the side pockets. I then open my bag and check my extra clothes.

(With how long they took, I get the feeling I'll be taking a rather cold shower.)

Satisfied with what I saw, I leave my backpack back next to Kohta's. I then looked at Kohta's hiking backpack, the sight of it reminding what just transpired today.

(This is the first time I'm actually alone since this whole thing started huh.)

I walk to the window, taking a look at the distant lights on the bridge.

(The outbreak happened… and I managed to group up with Takashi and co. And now, I'm here, rather than there with the soon to be dead crowd.)

I let out a dry laugh.

(I am actually very lucky with how things played out. Even Saeko is calling me by my first name already. If that counts for something. How did I even manage that?)

I turn and look at Kohta's hiking backpack again.

(To think my starter plan was to get close to Kohta and use him as leverage to get in the group... I'm actually glad I'm pissed with myself right now for thinking of that. The guy probably sees me as his friend now. The least I could do is actually become one.)

I sigh and turn my head to the window and lightly bump my head on it.

(Come on focus. I think it's time to go and take that goddamn bath.)

With that, I turn around and grab my backpack, then exit the room.

(Maybe I should have taken more than just one pair of underwear and socks. Oh well, we will be at Saya's house soon if things play out like in the anime, and so far it seems like things are following that track. Although, I wonder what will happen now that Shido does not have the bus. If this whole world is 'scripted' for things to happen like in the anime, then no matter how hard I try, Shido will just appear at Saya's mansion with something that can ram the barricade. God, I hope that's not the case... I mean, this whole thing feels… too real to believe that everything is scripted here, zombies aside.)

With that cheery thought in mind, I reached the staircase and started going down. Only to immediately pause as I saw Rei slumped on the bottom step.

(Right, of course. The stairs are Rei's territory. And she's half-naked… great.)

Probably hearing my footsteps, Rei turns around.

"Taaakasshiii" She groans looking as drunk as Shizuka.

(Again… how?)

She gets up and goes up the stairs, stopping a few steps away from me, then starts staring at my mask, hard.

"You are not Takashi..." She mumbles.

"No, I'm not." I say, trying to keep my focus on her face and not let my eyes wander.

"Why?" She asks.

"Huh?" Is all I can respond with, as I tilt my head.

"Why are you not Takashi…?" She asks again as she starts pouting.

I sigh and shake my head.

"Go home Rei, you're drunk." Is all I say as I move past her.

I could hear Rei mumble something behind me, but I didn't really understand what she said. Not that it probably mattered much.

(Still... I don't get that girl. Takashi is the only thing that goes through her head, yet she dumped him for his own best friend. If the outbreak didn't happen, she would probably still be with Hisashi. Girls are fucking weird… or she just needs a good slap in the face so she can start considering how others might feel. Oh, wait… she did get slapped.)

I shake my head again and move towards the bath.

On my way there I pass by the living room, with Saya on the sofa, her clothes and pose… not really leaving much to the imagination.

And I stopped in place and just stood there staring.

(You know, seeing this scene from behind a screen, and seeing it from up close is… oh,look… her cleavage is in plain sight.)

A few seconds pass with me rooted at the spot.

(FOCUS!)

I slap my face, aka my mask, then quickly open my bag, pulling out a sleeping bag. I unroll it as I walk up to her.

(I get the feeling that if she wakes up and sees me, she will actually get very pissed at me, because Saya.)

I then cover the provocatively sleeping girl with the sleeping bag. Thankfully all she did was moan, before shifting slightly until she got comfortable under her new blanket.

With that done, I quickly walked away until I reached the bathroom.

(This house. I swear, it's bad for my mental health.)

I stop in front of the bathroom door.

(Ok anime one o' one. Never, ever. Charge into the bathroom. Saya, Rei and Shizuka are out of the bath, as I have seen them. Saeko was not in the kitchen. Sooo.)

I take a deep breath and knock on the door, hard.

Nothing...

(I can't hear any movement from behind the door, so it 'sounds' clear.)

For safe measure, I knock on the door again.

(I must look pretty stupid right now...)

Nothing again… I steel myself and swing the door open, expecting a bucket to land right on my face.

(Empty. I watched too much anime...)

I laugh dryly and walk inside the bathroom after I left the shotgun, backpack and belt with the flashbangs on a nearby sofa, taking only my change of clothes with me. Entering the bathroom I close the door behind me and go to the sink, then look at myself in the mirror.

(Gotta' clean the mask and balaclava. And now I wish I had taken an extra balaclava, oh well.)

With that, I take off my mask. Just as I was about to take off my clothes, I paused.

(I will check the bath, just in case.)

I move away from the mirror and open the second door leading to the bath, then look inside.

(Empty. Ok,so… where was I.)

With the premise clear, I take off my clothes, throw them in the corner and walk to the bath, closing the second door behind me. Then move to the showers in the corner

(The bathtub still has hot water inside. But, I'm not aiming to take too long of a wash, so I'll just take a normal shower.)

5 minutes later.

I was outside the bath with my new clean clothes. Not that I looked much different, this set was as black as the last one, with the exception that I was also wearing a jacket with a hood.

Right now, I was cleaning my mask and balaclava on the sink.

(The balaclava is relatively clean and thankfully it does not smell, so I can probably get away with it.)

After I was done washing my stuff I strap them back on me.

For the finishing touch, after I put the mask back on my face I lift the hood over my head and look at myself in the mirror.

(Heh...Ten outta ten.) I chuckle to myself and lower the hood.

With that over with, I walk out with my old clothes in hand. Once outside of the bathroom, I give out a stretch and yawn.

(The water shower was still hot, and this got me way too sleepy. Well, better than being drunk. Too many half-naked girls around.)

I lazily walk to a window, open it and toss the dirty clothes out.

(Rest in pieces school attire.)

That done, I walked to the sofa I placed my stuff at and picked them up. I put the flashbang belt in the backpack, then I wore the shotgun sling and threw the bag over my shoulder.

Then proceeded to walk around the house aimlessly.

And with my brain not giving directional commands to my body, my other organs apparently decided to do something about it. More precisely, my stomach did...

As I ended up in the kitchen… The noise I made caused the only person there to turn to me.

Saeko was now looking at me, next to her a boiling pot.

And once again, I was standing there, just staring. Except this time, the other person was staring back at me and she was not drunk or asleep.

(Keep your eyes on her face… keep your eyes on her face.)

"The food will be ready soon Naier, hope you don't dislike Japanese cuisine." She says with a smile.

"Uhh, no, It's fine with me..." I say, frozen in place.

"You… ughh. Want my jacket or, something?" I ask her, trying to keep my eyes from wandering.

"Ohh… this? I couldn't find anything that fits me. I hope it doesn't bother you too much." She says looking down on her apron, tugging at it, before looking back at me.

(She HAD to ask that !? I swear she is doing this on purpose...)

I take a deep breath and decide to take the best course of action considering my current situation… Avoiding the fucking question.

"Soo… you want the jacket?" I ask again.

Saeko just giggles.

"If you don't mind, then please." She says as she lets go of the kitchen utensils and moves closer to me.

(I. AM. FOCUSED! I think she can see through my mask… FOCUSED!)

I take off the jacket after removing my shotgun and bag, and give it to Saeko. She takes a few steps back and wears it before trying to zip it up

And can you guess what Saeko has that I don't? A giant chest.

The jacket's zipper got stuck midway, just under her large assets.

The black jacket was now making the white apron that covered her chest even more pronounced than before.

And my eyes, attracted by the 'bright contrast' in its periphery, finally trailed down.

(Ohh, look… it's full moons tonight.)

Saeko probably bothered by the zipper, unzipped the jacket a couple of seconds later. Not that it mattered. The damage was done and my eyes were on anywhere but her face.

"Thank you Naier, I'll return it to you when I get my clothes back." She responds with a smile.

I don't know if she could not see where I was staring because of my mask, or if she just didn't care.

"Uhuh..." Is all I said as I slowly turned my sight towards her face.

"Where did you find the clothes anyway?" She asks a few seconds later as she looks at me from head to toe.

"I had a spare change of clothes. For the part-time job I mentioned in the bus." I answer.

"Ahhh, yes. I do remember you mentioning that. In any case, thank you." She says with a slight bow.

I nod like an idiot, and finally manage to take my eyes off Saeko.

And my eyes, much to my dismay, land on the staircase...

Where Takashi and Rei were getting REALLY affectionate towards each other. Like, I think they are actually making out right now?

(GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!)

I take a deep breath and

"Moom! Takashi and Rei are making out on the stairs again!" I shout, turning around and walking to the fridge, opening it and looking inside.

(Ohhh look at that, lime juice.)

I was expecting somebody to start talking. Yet instead, what I heard was. Dog barking.

I lift my head immediately from the fridge.

(God, at least let me eat something first damn it.)

I close the fridge and run to my stuff, taking the shotgun in one hand and the bag in the other. Then run to the stairs.

"Wha… what's gotten into you?" Rei asks, probably startled by my actions.

"That barking dog, it sounds close. Too close." Is all I said as I ran past Takashi and Rei, going to the room that the locker was in.

Going outside through the door-sized window, I see Kohta turning to look at me with a serious expression.

"Nice vest, please tell me I'm the only one hearing that barking." I say as I walk up next to him. Kohta shakes his head.

"It looks really bad Naier. They're gathering in the front of the house, a lot of them." He answers, gripping his gun.

I look down at the street as I nod.

(No rest for the wicked, huh.)


	13. To the rescue

(It's not like I hate animals or anything. But goddamn it Zeke is really trying to get us killed by barking right in front of the house.)

"At least the corpses are not trying to get inside. Not yet anyway." I say as I keep looking below, at the corpses outside the gates.

"I know. Still, I would rather not have a horde of corpses right in front of my front door. For peace of mind if nothing else." Kohta said with a serious expression on his face.

(Well… I don't think it would really matter whether we had this horde here or not. The road is already crawling with corpses anyway.)

A couple of seconds later, I heard footsteps behind me. Turning around, I see Takashi.

"Hope you like dogs. Our little barking friend down there got us our very own horde at the front gate."

I say as I point behind me with my thumb. Then turn around again, and look at the rest of the neighborhood.

(I don't need binoculars to see how bad things are. I mean Hell, even if I was blind, I would still hear the occasional scream between all the moaning corpses.)

I turn my sight towards the bridge. Still filled with honking cars.

(And if I do remember correctly, the corpses are going to overrun part of the evacuation bridge. Things are probably really bad over there right now. Or they will be, soon)

I turn my sight once more to the nearby streets.

(Soon, we'll also have to save Alice. The group already thinks I'm not too keen on getting new members, as I pretty much said so back in the sports store after all. I guess, it's time to contradict myself like it's going out of style.

Question is, what do I do when shit does hit the fan?

While we do have one more gun that can kill from a distance, both the M1 and the AR-10 use the same ammunition. And as Kohta will need to go full ham and use a couple of mags here, if I join the party we'll be out of ammo before we can even blink. Not that I'm stupid enough to go out there unarmed though. I'll take the shogun and a couple of extra shells with me. Hopefully, I'll not have to use it, or worse, have to reload it mid-fight.)

While I was stuck in my own head, I felt a hand shaking my shoulder. I turn around to see Takashi. Looking pissed for some reason?

"Naier, can I have that shotgun for a bit?" Takashi says as he extends his arm.

Looking around I see that Saeko was also here, staring at Takashi.

(This, is where Takashi tried to go all Rambo, right?)

"You know how to use it?" I ask calmy.

"I… I can't just stay here and do nothing Naier! I'm not asking you to go out there, just let me have the gun for a bit." Takashi responded as he slightly glared at me.

(Ughhh… I really want to tell him that we can't save everybody, but in a couple of minutes we will try to save Alice, with me going along with it. I don't want to have to contradict myself 'that' hard.)

Thankfully I didn't have to opine, as Saeko spoke up a couple of seconds later.

"Komuro, did you forget that sound attracts them?" She speaks up before turning around, exposing her backside as she walked back into the room. Causing Kohta to nosebleed and Takashi to follow behind her, after looking at me for a bit with a strange expression.

(Well, that suddenly played out exactly like in the anime, weird.)

I shook my head and glanced outside.

"It's not like I want to leave people out there to die. But we won't survive an hour if we try to help every person in need. We will either run out of resources. Or die horribly while we're trying to play heroes." I say as I keep looking at the corpses that were now feasting on somebody's remains, and hear Kohta sigh.

"I know, but still, I… it's just." He stammers.

A couple of seconds later, Takashi comes back outside, binoculars in hand. I kneel down and sit with my back against the fence. I stayed silent as Takashi started speaking with Kohta, not really paying attention to what they were saying, already knowing how this would go.

Takashi then kneeled down next to me and started looking with his binoculars. I turn myself around and follow suit, sans binoculars of course. Alice would appear soon and there were more important things I needed to wreck my brain over instead of whether I'm being humane or not.

The fact that I was about to go into hugging distance from a large horde for example.

(Chivalry and goodwill ain't gonna do shit if I'm dead. Time to start worrying about how I'll stay alive while we try to save Alice.)

It didn't take too long after that, until I saw Takashi's head freeze in place. Turning my head towards the direction he was staring at, I see two figures walking into a house's yard that still had all its lights on…

As I did not have the binoculars, I could not see the event that would unfold as clearly. But, I didn't need to, for when Alice started crying her eyes out next to her dying father, I could hear her pretty fucking well.

And then, out of nowhere...

"Rock and roll!" A single shot was fired from Kohta's rifle. He then starts rambling under his breath with a grin, before firing a second shot.

And then another and another.

He kept on shooting for a few seconds, before Takashi spoke up.

"Hirano, what happened to not firing and abandoning people to save ourselves?" Finishing his sentence he turns his sight to me with a smug expression on his face.

(Yeah, yeah, rub it in won't ya. Be the hero in shining armor, I'll be the dark knight, I prefer black anyway)

"Dude! It's a little girl!" Kohta shouts as he turns his head at the two of us. His gun still pointing towards the illuminated house

"We are going to save her, right?" Finishing his sentence he also turns to me.

Now both of them were looking at me...

(Really now? Well whatever, it's not like I was aiming to disagree. It would not change anything either way)

"How many magazines do you have?" I ask as I turn to Kohta.

"Four, all ready to go." He says with a grin before turning his head back towards the house, taking a position to fire once more.

"Takashi, are we going to use the bike to get there?" I ask, turning my head to Takashi this time.

Takashi smiles and nods eagerly, before turning around, walking back into the house.

Before going through the window door, I turned to Kohta one last time..

"I would normally tell you to not get too trigger happy… But ughh, fuck it. Go nuts. I don't wanna end up dead because I told you to go easy on the bullets."

I see Kohta making a thumbs up, his face still glued to the scope.

I then turn around again and run into the house, to get prepared as quickly as possible. Inside, I grab a couple of shells and quickly load the shotgun to its maximum capacity.

(Five shells in the magazine, six with one in the chamber.)

I get up and grab another handful of shells and shove them in the side pocket of my pants. And then, I start running towards the lower floor, checking the shotgun's sling as I wear it. Getting to the stairs, I see Takashi on the lower floor, getting a handgun from Rei.

I stopped running and walked down the stairs as fast as I could. Dying by falling down the stairs is only funny in comedies after all.

"Do not rely on the gun. The sound will make them flock to you." I hear Saeko say to Takashi as I pass her by.

"If you think that little water gun Takashi has is loud, wait till you hear this thing firing." I say as I walk past her, lifting my shotgun with one hand, and stopping next to Takashi before turning around.

Saeko turns her head to me, but before she or I can say anything, Takashi speaks up again.

"Naier and I are going to rescue someone. And we're going to use the bike to do it, we'll be making a lot of noise anyway. Using the guns won't make much of a difference."

(I just hope with me on the bike he'll be able to drive as well as he did in the anime. In any case, time to be a hero, or die in the process.)

While I was deep in thought, I noticed that the rest of the group sans Kohta, was staring at me again.

(Wait, did they ask me something? Crap… I need to pay more attention.)

"You have the shotgun so I'll drive." Takashi says as he then turns around and walks to the door, opening it before walking to the bike. I nod before following behind him.

"So, I'm riding shotgun with a shotgun." I say with a deadpan face, not that they could see my face, mask and all.

Takashi turns to look at me without stopping. I just shrugged.

Apparently, while I was thinking, the rest of the group have decided on the plan of action. The plan being using a concrete slab with a wooden plank for a ramp in order to go over the wall of corpses that have gathered outside.

(I just hope the 'ramp' won't give way under our feet, or well, wheels...Ughh no, no thinking like that now. The whole thing will be hard enough as it is, I don't need to make it harder for myself by overthinking about what can go wrong.)

With that cheery thought in mind, I walk next to the bike and climb on the back, gripping Takashi by the shoulder.

"I hope your driving skills are as good as your enthusiasm, or we will be needing some saving as well." I chuckle lightly as I speak to Takashi.

"Don't worry Naier. I got this." Takashi answers confidently as he turns the bike on.

(Sure you do, you even wheelie over a corpse and land on your ass…)

Rei and Saeko were at the gate, next to the 'ramp' and the corpses that were banging up against said gate

"I'm all set here, no more time-wasting Takashi. If we are going to save that little girl, we do it now." I tap Takashi's shoulder before cracking my neck bones.

Takashi nods as he wears a pair of fingerless gloves he picked up from god knows where before he starts revving the bike.

And then after a few revs, we blasted forward.

The bike speeds through the narrow driveway before going on the makeshift ramp and into the air. I turn my head to the left and look up at the second floor of the house.

"Kohta! Lock and load!" I shout as the bike flies over the two girls and the gate.

The bike then goes over the corpses, and lands on the asphalt a few meters away.

My grip on both the shotgun and Takashi tightens as he makes a sharp turn to the right before speeding down the corpse infested road. Takashi drove the bike between the corpses, making a beeline for the house where Alice was located.

All the while, corpses were dropping left and right from Kohta's handiwork. One shot, one kill...

(God damn. That guy can shoot.)

Getting near our destination, we see another wall of corpses ahead of us. Luckily, said wall was not blocking the door to the yard that Alice was in.

Nonetheless, Takashi pulls on the brakes hard, causing the bike to drift sideways before violently accelerating forward, towards the gate of the house. The sudden speed increase caused the bike's front wheel to lift.

I did want to warn Takashi that he would fall on his ass, but well, it was already too late. The bike was already on a wheelie, as it went over a corpse that was laying on the floor.

Not sparing any time, I let go of Takashi and jumped off the bike before I would end up falling along with him. A couple of big steps later as I bled the momentum, I came to a full stop, while Takashi went flying. He then fell on his ass as the bike flew into the wall of the house.

I ran to Takashi, grabbed his arm and helped him up.

"Still in one piece?" I ask.

He nods before turning to look behind me. I turned around to where he was looking. There was a single corpse, heading towards Alice, Zeke in front of her still barking.

(Seriously that dog is just drawing fucking attention now, more importantly though.)

"Takashi, get that corpse near the Lil' one, I'll get the ones near the gate." I say as I start moving. I lift the shotgun and look down the sights before walking towards the open gate. The corpses outside slowly shuffled towards the yard.

I point the shotgun in the general direction of the first three corpses that had just passed said gate, and pull the trigger…

All three corpses blasted back, accompanied by a deafening sound. Creating an opening for me to go near the gate and close it.

(The hell!? Is a twelve-gauge supposed to do THAT much damage? I expected it to knock down or kill one corpse. But It literally just sent everything in front of it flying!)

I thought as I ran to the gate and swung it shut.

(Well, I'm not complaining, I'm the one with the broken gun here. Also, five.)

I pump a new round into the shotgun and turn around. Takashi was going all out on the corpses to the left of the yard, keeping them away from Alice while Zeke kept barking.

On the right side of the yard, three corpses remained.

I raised my shotgun, crouched slightly then began to slowly walk towards the nearest corpse. Before I could even do anything to it though, it got blown back, blood splattering from the back of its head.

(Headshot. Nice job Kohta.)

And like that the other two corpses also drop motionless in a matter of seconds from Kohta's well-placed shots. I turn around towards our house and look in the direction that Kohta should be at and give a thumbs-up.

(Alright yard's clear. Now we need to leave, probably the same way Takashi left the house in the anime. As the shotgun alone should have gathered every single corpse near us to the gate.)

"Good job."

I turn to the voice to see Takashi looking at me. I nod and glance at Alice as Takashi walks up to me, the little girl walking behind him. I was thinking about what to do, when Alice started talking.

"My...dad." Alice breaks the silence as she looks at the dead body of her father near to the front door of the house. I turn around and look at the dead body then turn to Takashi and whisper at him.

"I suck at comforting people, I'll leave this up to you." I whisper to Takashi before walking away.

(Actually, the thing is… I don't think I'm 'bad' at comforting people per se. It's just that, well, when people I don't want to gut alive start crying right in front of me. It kinda makes me tear up as well. And so, knowing that Alice will start crying soon, yeah, I'd rather not join the waterworks.)

While Takashi was comforting Alice, I moved to the locked wooden door that led into the house.

(It would not be too hard to bust the door open. All it would take is one well-placed shot...)

I raise my shotgun and point it at the door. Through the corner of my eye, I could see shadows through the window, I could feel them staring at me.

(But, who says I wouldn't have done the same thing if somebody tried to force their way into my house. While nobody from the team knows, in the anime the father did shout that he will break down the door if they don't let him in. And he was not bluffing, he was about to do exactly that right before he got stabbed.)

I stay like that for a couple of seconds, before giving off a huge sigh. As I lower my shotgun and begin to turn around, I hear Alice start to cry.

(...fucking timing...)

I turn towards the window.

"You'd better find a better way to protect your god damn family! Lest someone retaliates from your fucking actions one day!"

I shout towards the window, and then turn around. I walked towards Takashi, who was kneeling down, hugging Alice as she wept.

"For a minute, I really thought you would shoot down the door." Takashi says as he looks up towards me.

"And so did I, but, I need the ammo." I say as I look at the metal fence door. Hands sticking out of it as it kept rattling.

"So, how do we leave? The front gate is an obvious no go." Takashi asks as he turns his head to the gate, or more likely, the corpses behind it.

"Can't we escape through somewhere other than the street?" Alice asks, causing me to turn my head to her.

While she still had tears in her eyes, she had stopped crying and was looking at Takashi.

"How about by flying through the sky?" Takashi says sarcastically as he sighs, looking towards the fence wall.

"Oh…!" And his eyes go wide a couple of seconds later. He then turns to me.

"Is your balance good?" He asks.

"Good enough." I replied as I let go of the shotgun, leaving it to hang on my sides.

"What's the plan?" I ask, for propriety's sake.

"We can walk on the fence wall to get over to the next house's yard." He says as he points to the medium-height concrete wall that separated us from sure death.

"Alright, I don't see any other option anyway." I said as I nodded to him.

"So… uhh, who carries the little girl?" I hear Takashi ask as he gets up.

And his question was quickly answered, as right after that, Alice got up and grabbed him by his sleeve, hiding behind his legs.

"Uhh… I think that would be you. I don't think she likes me." I say as I point my finger to Alice, causing Takashi to look behind him.

"Your mask… is scary." Alice says as she stares at me, still hiding behind Takashi.

I sigh and shake my head.

(At least she didn't call me a God frigging penguin...)

"You go in the front, and I'll watch your back. Do be careful, you have more than one life on your back right now." I say as I move to climb the wall that leads to the next house yard.

(This wall has fewer corpses on the other side. No reason to try and climb the wall that has a sea of death on the opposite side.)

I grab the top of the wall and lift myself up, then check the other yard.

(Well, while there are fewer corpses here, there are still too many for the three of us to sneak through. Walking on the narrow wall it is then)

I turn around to see Takashi carrying Alice piggyback style. He gets close to the wall and grabs it.

"Need help?" I kneel down and offer my hand. Takashi nods and grabs my arm.

"Thanks, man." He says as he climbs up and starts walking in front of me.

And like that, we begin walking down a narrow line.

(Fall to the left and it's game over.)

I stared at the seas of corpses left of me as they moaned and grind against the wall. And while said wall was too tall for them to climb, it was not high enough to stop the corpses from reaching for our legs.

(All they have to do is reach out. At least the wall on the next yard is a little bit higher. Still not enough to keep us safe from random hand grabs though.)

I grab my shotgun and aim it low to the left as I keep walking, keeping my eyes on the corpses down on the street.

(I just hope that if I use it here, I won't also blast my own leg off. This thing's blast range is not normal. Not for 'my' world's standards at least. And I never did manage to shoot with a shotgun at the gun range to check how destructive they were. Yet with so much power, shouldn't the recoil be as strong? Because it sure as hell didn't feel like it. I would probably have dislocated my shoulder otherwise.)

I turned my head to see Takashi stopping, we had reached the end of this yard's wall. Just as Takashi was about to walk over, the dog decided to do its part, and started licking Takashi, only for Alice to stop it seconds later.

"Thanks...Are you scared?" Takashi asks as he walks over to the next wall fence.

(Again, things are going exactly like in the anime...)

I turn my head and look at the cat that was sleeping next to us, not a care in the world.

(Cats gonna be cats I guess, no fucks given...)

I then turned my head and saw that Takashi was walking away. I proceed to also walk up to the next wall fence, catching up to Takashi. Who suddenly came to an abrupt stop. As I got near, I heard Takashi say something with disbelief in his voice.

"So, uh, how about you say that again..." He asks.

"I need to pee..." Alice replies with a meek voice.

(Oh… this thing. You know, now that I think about it. I 'could' have asked if anybody needed to 'use' the bathroom in a half joking manner before getting up the wall. Ughh… why didn't I think of this earlier.)

Takashi then starts grumbling, talking nonstop in a silent voice. Until Alice whines that she can't hold it anymore, with a rather loud voice mind you.

I look behind me and take a big step back. And like that, a couple of seconds later, I see Takashi's jacket becoming wet.

(Right… even if he won't fall, no reason for me to just sit and watch.)

I let go of the shotgun, letting it hang on the sling and wait for Alice to 'finish'.

And then, like clockwork, a female corpse's hand reaches for Takashi's foot, almost grabbing it by the laces, causing Takashi to lose his balance. I quickly took a big step forward and leaned my body forward. Taking the step with my right leg, my left leg staying in place for balance. And grab both of Takashi's shoulders.

"Whoa!." Takashi takes a deep breath as he holds Alice's legs in a death grip.

He turns his head back and looks at me.

"Thanks." I nod in return, and let go of his shoulders.

He then turns to the left, to the sea of corpses, then forward...to the end of the fence.

"Damn it, the fence ends soon… Where can we go now?" He asks rhetorically as he keeps staring at the corpses and the dead end.

(Ohhh, wait. I could use the flashbang.)

I think as I reach for my belt, only to grab air.

(That I left in my bag… that I left on the roof… Shit! Uhh, no matter, the group should come to the rescue any second now. They're supposed to appear right after Takashi starts staring at the horde.)

Yet, nothing happened...

Seconds pass...and the seconds then turn to minutes.

(For the love of. Out of all the things that could go differently, this had to be one of them?)

I grumble under my breath and look at Takashi. I was about to speak, when I heard an engine roar that was getting louder by the second. Followed by a pair of lights that kept coming closer to us.

I sigh in relief.

(Had to make me freak out first huh?)

I heard Takashi laugh as the Humvee closed in. Now that they are nearer, I could see Saeko standing upright on the humvee, Kohta under her.

(I'm actually surprised Kohta is so focused even with Saeko standing over him like that. Actually… What gun is he using? I got the shotgun right now soo...)

My question got answered when the Humvee started running over the corpses, stopping with a drift some feet away from the far end of the fence wall we were standing on right now.

(That's the M1 right?)

Takashi was saying something, but I was too busy watching the whole scene unfold to hear what he said. The moment the Humvee stopped, Saeko jumped off and proceeded to wreck whatever sorry corpse was near the Humvee in the secluded part of the street.

"Hurry up Takashi!" I hear Rei shout causing both of us to snap out of our reverie.

"It's not that simple!" Takashi shouts back as he starts walking along the fence to the Humvee.

(Ohh, don't mind me. I will… just exist here. Bleh.)

I whine in my head as I follow behind Takashi. I also see Saya saying something as she pops out of the car, causing Kohta to grin and start shooting.

(Right no shotgun overkill. Oh. Wait!)

"Kohta, my bag, flashbang!" I shout causing Kohta to turn to me, nod and disappear into the humvee, only to reappear seconds later with a flashbang in his hand.

"Flashbang!" I hear Kohta shout as he pulls the pin with needlessly dramatic flare before throwing it.

"Cover your ears and close your eyes!" I shout as I cover my ears, only to see Takashi turning to me, his eyes filled with worry. He was holding Alice, who was using her palms to cover her eyes and her thumbs to shut her ears. If he let go of Alice to cover him self, Alice would fall… but if he didn't cover his ears, he would end up falling himself.

(Shit...SHIT, bad call. BAD CALL.)

"CLOSE YOUR FUCKING EYES AND LOOK AWAY FROM THE FUCKING GRENADE!" I scream as I closer and cover his ears and eyes with my hands as Takashi turns his head to look towards the right.

The last thing I saw, was Kohta looking at me, his eyes going wide before he also looked away and covered his ears.

(Ehh, at least the rest seem to know what to do...)

That was the last thing that went through my mind before I closed my eyes and turned my head to my right, trying to cover my left ear with my shoulder.

And then, a deafeningly loud explosion. My mind went blank for a second as both my ears started ringing. If my senses were bad with just my eyes closed, then now I felt like a fish falling through the sky.

Actually, scratch that. I 'was' falling.

(Not...good!)

The moment I hit the ground I open my eyes. A very blurry image of the night sky appeared along with a black blocky blotch on the lower part of my vision. Probably the wall...

My ears were still ringing like crazy, I could not hear a damn thing, and my eyes could only see blurs. Well, at least they are clear enough to see a couple of shadows standing over me, slowly becoming bigger and bigger...

Without much time to think, and with all of my senses being a jumbled mess, all I could do was act on instinct. My knees were bent, meaning I was 'stepping' on the wall.

I quickly put strength to my legs and end up doing a backward roll, until I ended crouched on my feet. I then used the stock of the shotgun as I turned around, taking a swing and hitting nothing but air.

I took a few awkward big steps towards what appeared to be a house, until I reached the its wall, opposite of the fence. With a wall on my back, the corpses shouldn't be able to ambush me, even with my messed up senses.

(Come on god damn it! Clear up already!)

I slap my mask in frustration before looking back ahead of me.

All I could see is still a blurry hell. But, I could make out some shadows walking towards me. I turn to the fence wall to see a blurry blob on top of it.

(Takashi, he's still on the wall, good. Gotta tell him to move)

I shouted at Takashi to move, hoping that he could hear me as I could not even hear myself scream right now. And well, if the corpses weren't coming towards me then, they sure are now.

The shadowy blob on the wall then starts to move towards the right. I nod and turn my head to the shadowy figures that were approaching me. then checked my right side before walking to the right, circling around the shadows as I went wall to wall.

(Can't have Takashi behind these idiots, I might hit him with a stray pellet.)

After the wall that Takashi was on went out of my vision by strafing to the right, I lifted my shotgun.

(Even if deaf and blind, I'm still going to KICK- YOUR- ASSES.)

I pull the trigger and one of the shadows flies back meshing into the shadowy mess that I assume is the ground.

(Four...)

I pump a new bullet and turn the muzzle of the gun towards the next nearest shadow. I pull the trigger again and the shadow disappears just like the one before it.

(Three… I can't even hear the damn shotgun right now.)

I aimed towards the last shadow as my vision was slowly getting less and less blurry.

And pull the trigger.

(Two)

I counted the rounds as I pumped in a new bullet. I then lift my mask and massage my eyes with my hands

(I know this won't help but, ughh come on, I need to be able to see. Even if it's night, the street is pretty well lit, and the area is quite open with no real bright colors to reflect the light from the flashbang. Plus, with all the corpses that were around the flashbang when it went off, they should have blocked some if not most of the light, add that the mask's visor has a slightly dark shade...come on damn it)

As I keep blinking, my sight slowly returns to acceptable levels. Still blurry, but I could now see the corpses crawling on the grassy ground.

(Ohh, why hello there dipshits.)

I lift the gun and point it towards the nearest one.

And with a pull of the trigger, the impact jerks the corpse's upper torso back before hitting the ground as it stops moving for good.

I then pump another round and lower my mask.

(One.)

I let the shotgun fall to my sides and look at the wall.

Takashi was not there.

(He probably already jumped to the humvee. God... I hope he had jumped to the humvee.)

I grumbled as I walked to the wall and climbed it.

Getting on top of the wall, I then looked towards the blob that looked most like the Humvee. I could see blurry faces looking at me. I think they're speaking?

Well, I couldn't hear jack squat.

(Let's see. Oh, there. I see Takashi, I think.)

I then turn around and look at the surrounding area...

(Man the place sure does look different now that everything is blurry...)

I then turn to the Humvee again, before looking down.

Thankfully my vision was clear enough for me now to see the thin wall without the danger of mistaking a corpse's face for a brick. I turned my attention back to the Humvee once more, I could see that the group was looking at me, mouths moving.

I take a deep breath.

(This… will probably be loud.)

And I shout that I can't hear a thing as I point to my ear with one hand.

I then start walking on the thin wall, and upon reaching the end, I see the gap between the car's hood and me.

(I need to jump. Oh boy… I don't think I ever felt so insecure about a fucking gap. C'mon, you can do it, it's just a small gap.)

I was about to jump when I saw the car slowly moving towards me. I lift my head to see Shizuka in what I suspect was a serious expression as she drove closer to the wall.

(Awww… ok, enough time-wasting.)

I take a deep breath, bend my knees. And jump.

I fly through the air before landing square in the center of the hood with what I assume was a loud bang. I lift my head as I get up and climb to the roof to see the group looking at me, their mouths moving again.

(Still can't hearrr yooouuuu.)

I say to the group that we need to get going before we get surrounded, and that I still can't hear a thing. I then walk to the hatch of the humvee and climb inside, the people on the roof following behind me.

After I take a seat, I let out a huge sigh as the car finally starts moving. Only for a pair of hands to grab my face and turn it to the left, where I found Saeko's face.

It was close enough for me to understand what her mouth was saying, even with my blurry vision.

Too close...now that I think about it.

(Are… you… alright. I think that's what she's saying?)

I nod and give her a thumbs up. She stares at me for a bit before she closes her eyes and lets go of my head. I then turn around to check the rest of the group's condition.

I don't know if it was because of the blurry faces, but they all looked kind of worried.

Even Saya, who was sitting in the front looked worried...

Saya...worried...

(Yeah, probably just my blurry vision playing tricks on me.)

And then, something else caught my attention, and it gave me an idea

(Hmm, I wonder...)

I start moving my head in a sniffing motion before stopping at Kohta and Takashi's direction.

And then...

"I MIGHT BE DEAF AND HALF BLIND, BUT MY NOSE STILL WORKS. AND YOU TWO… SMELL, LIKE, CRAP."

I say in a silent voice as I point my hand at the two of them.

(Ohhhh, I can hear myself speak again.)

Takashi and Kohta just looked at me in surprise...blinking. Alice, who was sitting next to Takashi, went wide-eyed.

(Ohh, wait… the pee incident)

"YOU TWO SMELL LIKE GUTS, BLOOD AND BAD DEODORANT. YOU HOBOS DIDN'T TAKE A BATH BACK AT THE HOUSE DID YA? "

I 'silently' ask as I lift both my hands.

The guys were starting to dart their eyes around in embarrassment. Alice, on the other hand, seemed to have relaxed a little.

And then the girls decided to do something that everybody knows is a bad idea. But then go ahead and do it anyway.

That being, checking the smell. And… they all ended up with the same reaction, hand to the nose.

I could actually see Alice giggling now.

(To think she can actually laugh when her dad just died what, an hour ago? She bounced back fast, too fast. Well whatever… mission complete.)

As the group started to relax, I closed my eyes. Shutting off the only window I had right now with the outside world that somewhat worked.

Before long I also realized something...

(I think I just cock-blocked Takashi here. I'm sitting between him and Saeko.

Also… I'm hungry. And God! My head hurts!)


	14. Takagi Estate it is then

(Nope, can't do it. I just can't. No matter how much I want to. I… just… can't… Sleep!)

I was sitting between the Humvee's back seats. Awake, while the rest of the group slept soundly.

While I did doze off from time to time after we started driving. I kept having the same god damn dream, over and over again. Nothing scary like a nightmare mind you.

What I dreamed was, that I had a hat made of ringing alarm clocks strapped to my head. And while I knew it was a dream because of the ridiculousness of the situation, it felt 'real' enough to wake me up, every, single, time.

(Uhh, while I can see fine now, and my ears have stopped ringing. I still have a horrible headache. Probably the reason why I keep seeing that same damn 'dream'.)

I then turn my head to my right. Takashi was fast asleep with Rei sitting next to him, both covered under the same sleeping bag.

(Rei certainly did not miss her chance huh? Still don't understand what goes on her head though. Don't think I ever will.)

Actually. Now that I looked around me, everybody was actually covered with a sleeping bag. Even me.

(Somebody probably covered me while I was out cold.)

I sigh silently and turn my head towards the front seats. To the only other person that was also awake right now, aka. Shizuka, who was still driving, probably towards the river.

Saya was sleeping with Alice on her lap, in the front passenger seat. Kohta was, umm, on the floor next to Takashi, his back against the front driver seat.

(Saya sure sleeps a lot. She was out cold in the house as well. Heh, I would like to believe that she's less toxic towards me now. But she was asleep for half the day, and when she was awake, I was deaf. So go figure, I don't know either way. It's more like she didn't get the chance to be pissed at me. She did look worried back then though. Still, that could just have been my blurry vision, showing me what I wanted to see.)

Lastly, I turn to my left to see Saeko sleeping with her head against the window, also covered by a sleeping bag.

(Well, I did say that I would cockblock Takashi. Should I feel proud of myself now?...

But, you know what? I also realized that I was never present when Saeko and Takashi spoke with each other. For all I know, she could have already developed feelings for him seeing as things seem to be trying to stick to the events of the anime.

Ugh...The world has ended. I have killed things that used to be human without batting a frigging eyelash. Hell I might end up dead by tomorrow.

And what I'm actually worried about is whether Saeko has fallen for Takashi? I need to get my fucking priorities straight.

I mean, it's not like I'm any better from Takashi when it comes down to this subject. He wants both Rei and Saeko, and I like both Saeko and Saya. Though I don't think they know that, and I intend to keep it that way. For now at least)

Just as I was about to try my best to sleep and start a new war within my head, the car takes a sudden sharp turn to the left, causing me to almost fall on Rei.

"Oh crud" I hear Shizuka 'curse' before she starts looking to her left, and then glances back.

"Oh thank goodness. They're all still asleep. I'm still a teacher, I can't speak like that in front of my students." Shizuka says as she looks around before turning her sight back towards the street.

(Just a couple of hours ago we were on a killing spree. She herself ran over a lot of corpses, yet she's worried about swearing in front of us? Heh. Shizuka will be Shizuka I guess.)

I smile slightly, only to raise my eyebrow a second later. For some reason, I was feeling weighed down. And just as I moved my left shoulder, where I felt the weight, I heard a soft moan. I turned my head to the left following the source of the voice…

(Oh sh...)

And almost bump my head into Saeko's. Who was now mere inches away from my mask.

(Well, I guess now I know how she ended up on Takashi's crotch in the anime. If Shizuka ended up taking that sharp turn off-screen in the anime like she did just now and he was sitting where I am now. Yeah, I can see it happening.)

I stayed like that for some time, staring at the beautiful sleeping girl. I don't know if it was because she looked so vulnerable right now. But, while something has been 'bothering' me ever since we escaped Rika's house. It was now starting to eat me from the inside.

(I made a pretty bad call back then, and I almost got Takashi and Alice killed with that flashbang…

I know that I don't want Takashi to keep being the 'protagonist'. Because I don't want Saeko and him to get together. The reason. Plainly put, I'm jealous.

But...What if she ends up with no reason to live if I try to interfere with the pairing? In the anime she chose to live on because she loved Takashi. She kept on fighting because of him. She didn't go batshit crazy because of him. And let's be real, if she already likes him, then trying to keep them apart is going to get her killed, or worse...

I already made a bad call that almost got two people killed, while in the anime with Takashi in charge, they were just fine. Who says I won't end up fucking up again and get somebody killed?...)

I let out a silent sight and closed my eyes.

(Ughhh, fuck. Why does this have to be so fucking complicated?

I mean sure, Takashi ain't no angel either. Going for both Rei and Saeko in the anime. Or well, going after every single girl if we count the island ova.

But did he ever make a bad call? Because I don't remember him ever making one. And if he did, then my sadistic memory likes to watch me suffer by not letting me remember it.

Maybe... I should just sit back and let him lead on? Leave everything to play out like it did in the anime. That way I can be sure that the group will survive. But still… then… I… )

I take a deep breath, shake my head slightly and open my eyes.

(No… I'm not gonna think like this. For one, I know that if I let things play out like that, then I won't be able to stay with the group. I know myself, and I know that I will get sal… jealous. And probably do something very fucking stupid. Something that might get myself killed, at best. If I made a wrong decision, I will just have to make up for it. Saeko and Saya are the only ones that are 'worth' it in this damn shit storm...

Ughh, my head already hurts. And I'm not doing myself any favors thinking like this. I'm just going to burn myself out and still gain nothing out of it. I don't have time to beat myself with my own insecurities. If I need some proof that I did something good, then I just need to get my ass to Saya's house, and make sure that it will stay standing. So, focus on what's coming up next. In other words, Saya's house.)

I take my eyes off Saeko and look straight ahead, at the barely lit road.

(Saya's mansion. It will be the turning point for me.

If Shido appears there with a truck, if no matter what I do the truck still ends up crashing the barricade. Then there's a chance that the whole thing. No, that the whole 'world', is hard scripted to the events of the anime. And if after that we still end up with Saeko and Takashi splitting up from the group… I will then leave the group myself before they return. For their safety. And my sanity.)

I close my eyes, decision made in my mind.

(If Shido won't appear though, or if there won't be a truck to ruin our day. Then it'll be the proof I need, plus, it will be the first time I'll be able to take a real break. The whole mess with the adults versus us aside of course. Maybe I can get that training I asked Saeko for. Or maybe, even try to get Saya to be less toxic towards me…

Heh, yeah, fat chance. She actually gets even more grumpy during the time she spends in her home. I also have to check how Kohta is hanging on, his change from a passive guy to a guns-blazing maniac was, too sudden, even for him…)

As I opened my eyes after that thinking session, I could see the day's first rays of light.

(Alright me, new day, new problems. Whatever is bothering you, put it on hold and deal with it when the time is right.)

I spent the next ten minutes or so, looking at the rising sun, kinda funny if you think about it. Seeing the rising sun in the land of the rising sun…

And then, I heard a groan coming from the passenger's seat as Shizuka looked to her right.

"Ohh good morning Takagi." Shizuka speaks up.

"Morning… " Saya whispers groggily.

"How far till we reach the river?" She asks as she rubs her eyes.

"Five minutes or so." Shizuka answers.

"...Did the idiot wake up?" Saya asks again.

"Idiot?" Shizuka asks back, tilting her head confused.

"Ughh. Sepfier did he wak… " Saya turns to look at the rear seats as she spoke, only to stop mid-sentence.

"Hmm? ...ohhhh." Shizuka, probably curious with Saya's reaction, turns around as well.

(My mask hides my eyes… right?)

"Awww, they all look so cute like that." Shizuka giggled.

(All cute? Huh, what?)

Seconds later, it hit me.

(Right, Saeko is sleeping on my shoulder and Rei is cuddled up to Takashi.)

I could see Saya, puffing her cheeks?

(Uhh, why is she looking at me? Don't tell me she's...)

"When he wakes up, give the idiot his sleeping bag back. You guys told me it was his..." She says as she gets out of said sleeping bag, carefully placing Alice on the seat, before moving towards the hatch that was in front of me. And as she opens the hatch and lifts her self up,

(Wait… that sleeping bag was m… )

she throws a kick, aimed towards my shin.

(The hell? Well that didn't hurt because I have the leg guards. But still… the Hell? Did she just kick me?)

I hear Shizuka giggling before she turns back to look at the front.

I stayed unmoving for some time, processing the information, only to notice Kohta as he started moving about. And a couple of minutes later he opened his eyes.

He groans as he looks around, his eyes stopping on me, then on Takashi. And then he just stops there, and starts staring between me and Takashi...

He sighs as his shoulders drop.

"Ughh. Why can't I have a girl cuddling up to me?" He whispers to himself.

(Actually bro, only Takashi is getting the cuddling treatment. Mine was just an accident.)

He was about to get up when Saya came down from the hatch.

"Ohh good morning Takagi." He says happily, his face instantly lighting up.

"Morning." Saya replies with the same grumpy voice as always.

She picks up the binoculars that were lying around and then lifts her upper torso over the hatch. Leaving her 'lower body' in front of me. And, just like that, another problem 'appeared'.

(The others think that I'm asleep right? Because right now, Saya has her butt half a meter away from my face...Gahh, it's going to be rather hard to uhh, pretend to be asleep. With that butt in front of my face!)

I close my eyes to avoid any, 'accidents', from appearing.

"Naier has still not woken up?" Kohta asks, sounding a little bit worried.

"Nope. You know, Takagi asked the same thing too." Shizuka whispers to Kohta with a giggle.

As I open my eyes again, I see Kohta turning to Shizuka.

"R… really?" He asks as his shoulders drop again.

(God damn it you airhead! That's not something you should say to Kohta, even if it meant nothing!)

Shizuka was about to speak again when something caught her attention, making her turn her head to the passenger seat.

"Ohh… good morning little one. Did you sleep well?" She asked softly with a kind smile.

Alice pokes her head out of the front seat, still covered with the sleeping bag, looking like a mini Eskimo.

"Good morning. Umm… I'm Kohta." Kohta said quietly as he turned to the side so he could see Alice from behind the seat.

"Alice." Alice replies while rubbing her eyes.

"I'm Shizuka. Nice to meet you Alice." Shizuka says cheerfully shortly after.

Kohta narrows his eyes for a bit, seemingly in thought.

"Hey Alice. Want to go to the roof? We can sing a song up there and we won't wake anybody up." Kohta whispers.

(Huh, so that's why they were up there?)

Alice smiles and nods a couple of times.

I could see Kohta was also smiling as he picked up the little one and climbed the hatch, causing Saya to groan as she also had to climb up in order to allow them to pass.

(Alice will be a big morale boost for the team huh.)

My view did not stay butt free for too long though, as Saya climbed back to her old place shortly after...

And a couple of minutes later, the Humvee started tilting forward, as it finally reached the riverbank and went into the river.

Not long after, I started hearing a faint voice… singing?

(This is where the anime episode normally starts, isn't it?)

As we passed the shallow river I could hear Alice singing, only to be joined up soon after by Kohta. Who was then shouted at by Saya...

"Hey guys, wake up we will be over the river soon." I hear Shizuka speak up, this time with a voice loud enough to actually wake 'us' up. And just like in the anime, Rei wakes up first.

She shuffles around, rubbing her head against Takashi's arm, before opening her eyes, then staring at Takashi's face with sleepy half-closed eyes, her expression slowly turning into a closed-mouth grin.

(Jeez… get a room you two.)

I complained as I closed my eyes.

A couple of seconds later I hear Takashi groan as he wakes up.

'Ughh, morning everybody." I heard Takashi say as I felt movement next to me.

After a couple of seconds, I heard Rei giggling.

"Hey Takashi, look at those two." I hear her say.

I open my eyes and look at Rei and Takashi without turning my head.

While Rei was giggling, Takashi was staring at me, a slight frown appearing on his face.

(Oh no, you didn't just do what I think you just did. But anyway. Now, I can either 'wake' up and get this charade over with, or wait for Saeko to wake up first to avoid the awkwardness. For as much as I know, she might not actually want to wake up like this…

And here I go again. Shooting myself in the foot. God I swear, I am my worst fucking enemy)

"Wow. Busujima is really bold" I hear Rei say while giggling, a wide grin on her face.

(She really needs to be like that even if it's not about Takashi? )

Finally, as if hearing Rei's remark, Saeko reacts and moves her head a bit, before opening her eyes.

And then, she turns her head towards me. And starts staring...

(I am not sweating. Not at all...

Hey, Let's play a game me. Let's call it, don't freak out and stay still. Completely… fucking… still.)

Saeko finally 'wakes up', causing her eyes to go wide. She quickly lifts her head from my shoulder and looks around.

(Actually, she didn't drool this time around. Did the way she ended up on my shoulder closed her mouth?)

"Good morning Saeko" Takashi speaks up shortly after.

"Good morning Komuro" Saeko replies as she rubs the sleepiness out of her eyes.

(Saeko huh? So she did tell him to call her by her first name in the house...)

She then turns to look at me again.

"Naier is. Still asleep?" She asks.

"Yeah, he just missed quite the wake-up call, don't you think?" Rei says while staring at Saeko. Causing her to blush slightly.

"Cut it out Rei, it's not funny." Takashi says right after, Rei frowns as she turns her attention to him.

"So, should we let him sleep some more?" Takashi asks.

"Well. I don't see a problem with it. I mean… he is sleeping right?" Rei speaks right after.

"What do you mean?" Takashi asks as he turns towards Rei.

"Well… he has been asleep ever since he got back after falling from that wall? I mean… you know." She says a bit hesitantly as she glances at me.

"He didn't get bit, did he?" She finishes.

"If he was bitten back then, he would probably already be 'up'" Takashi says as he also stares at me.

Saeko then brings her face closer to mine. I could see her eyes looking towards my chest.

"He is breathing. He is not dead Rei." Saeko says as she grabs my shoulder and shakes me.

(Ok time to wake up before they end up putting a bullet in my head for good measure.)

"Ughh… No shaking." I say with my best 'just woke up' groan

"Naier, are you ok?" Saeko was the first one to speak to me.

"Hmm? Yeah. I can hear just fine now. My head feels like it got hit by a train though." I say as I move my neck, bones cracking in the process.

(And my neck is sore after staying still for so long. But they don't need to know that I heard every single thing they said.)

"You had us really worried there for a second." I hear Takashi say with a groan.

"Hmm, well. The whole thing was my fault to begin with. So it had to be me. " I say as I turn my head to Takashi, who had one eyebrow raised.

"Huh? what do you mean?" He asks.

"I was the one that told Kohta to use the flashbang. I also didn't take into account the fact that you could not protect yourself. So, as I said. My bad, sorry about that." I explained as Takashi was looking at me like an idiot.

"Uhh… well… "

"And so you took the hit instead of Takashi to correct your mistake. I think that is good enough for an apology. Even if it was, not a very smart idea." Takashi didn't even get to speak as Saeko intervened.

"Huh, stick around. I'm full of bad ideas" I say with a mirthless chuckle.

(Hmm, where have I heard that line before? It seemed relevant to my situation… something about zombies? Aliens… zombie aliens? Hmm, can't remember. Oh well...)

"You should be more careful Naier, you will end up hurting yourself if you keep doing such stunts." Shizuka says as she turns around, looking at me with a, frown? I think it was a frown, though she looked more like a pouting hamster to be honest.

(Well 'hurting' myself is putting it mildly.)

And with that done, the Humvee reached the end of the river, climbed a slope, and along with a little air time, it then landed safely on the riverbank.

Once we drove a bit further, and upon seeing no corpses around, the car stopped.

"Well seeing that it's safe around here, I think it's time we get a much-needed break. Because I for one, need some fresh air." I say as I look at the door behind Saeko.

Saeko nods and opens the door before stepping out of the car herself. I stretch in the car before also getting out.

(For a humvee, it's awfully spacious. I have already been in a military humvee in my uhh… old life? And let me tell you, these things, are a lot of things. Spacious, they ain't. It is weird, but this one has quite the open space inside for some reason.)

With that strange thought in mind, I scooted outside. And the moment I got out…

"Naier!"

I turn to the voice to see Kohta on the roof.

"Hey there Kohta." I say as I wave at him.

"Uhh, hey… I'm..."

"That nade was my bad call, don't blame yourself for it." I cut Kohta off before he can finish.

Kohta, along with Alice, were just staring silently at me now.

"Yeah the idiot is right. It Was, his fault." Saya says as she turns her frowning face to me.

"Good to see you too Takagi." I respond to her, before turning my attention back to Kohta.

(God, that girl is always grumpy.)

"I do agree with Takagi here though. That flashbang was my fault, so don't put the blame on yourself. I told you to use the flashbang and I almost killed myself because of 'my' bad decision, not yours." I continued as I looked meaningfully at Kohta.

After a couple of seconds, Kohta finally lets up his frown, and smiles with a sigh.

"Well. It's good to see you are not dead at least." He says, finally with an actual smile. I nod and then turn to Alice.

"I guess you still find me scary huh?" I say as I tilt my head.

The moment Saya saw Alice nodding, she snapped at me.

"Hey! idiot! What did you do to her!" Saya shouts, as she slams both her hands on the roof and leans towards my direction.

"Nothing! She just thinks my mask is, that's all!" I shouted back as I put my hands up.

"Then take it off, you nitwit! You have been wearing that damn thing ever since you found it!" She responds with a huff.

"Nope. Not gonna happen. The mask stays. Or what, you want to see my face that badly?" I finish my reply with a chuckle as I fold my arms.

And sure enough, Saya's face turned red and as she was about to start screaming? Shouting? Screamshouting?

"Well, it's good to see you three are fine. Now some of you might wanna start changing? I don't think you want to stay in the humvee with your previous 'clothes', no?" I say as I turn around and start walking a bit further away from the car. Ignoring whatever was about to happen.

And so, a couple of minutes later, the girls were behind the car. While the rest, aka Takashi and Kohta, stayed in the front. I, on the other hand, was by the slope.

(You know. It's 'funny' how when I was alone while the others slept, all that crap that crawled up into my head and almost choked me. And now, with everybody around, I feel like everything is going to be just fine. That… or I'm keeping my brain busy.)

With that thought, I slowly moved back to the humvee.

"Take one for the team, Takashi!" Kohta says with a grin.

(And some things just won't change huh.)

"Trying to get Takashi hated by the girls now Kohta? Uncool, bro." I say with a chuckle as I move closer.

"What? No, I was just… ehh." Kohta laughs nervously a bit before he turns to me.

"So, how are you? That flashbang, while going off in an open area, still went off still pretty close to you." Kohta asks with a serious expression.

"I'm fine, only a mild headache left. A headache that I suspect is more from the fall I took and not from the flashbang in itself." I reply as I massage my right temple with one hand.

"Still man, that was pretty amazing back there." Kohta exclaims excitedly.

I tilt my head, a little bit confused.

"Taking the hit for Takashi and Alice and then going all 'Blind and deaf I am still going to kick your asses!' Bang! bang! bang!" He finishes by trying to imitate some sort of badass Rambo?

"Wait, I actually said that?" I ask in surprise.

"Said? Man, you screamed it at the top of your lungs." Kohta answers as he starts laughing.

"Well, damn. So much for my silent persona." I groan with a shrug.

We continued chatting aimlessly for some minutes. Until Takashi got bored of sitting still and started walking away. Kohta and I followed behind him as he walked by the riverbank.

"So, the little one is named Alice huh." I say, confirming what I already knew to Kohta.

"Yep, Alice. Maresato Alice." Kohta says right after.

And speaking of the devil, we hear her calling out to, somebody she considers to be her big brother? Either Takashi or Kohta then. She's scared of me after all.

Turning to the source of the voice, we see the girls in their new getup.

The outfits they wore were exactly the same as in the anime. The difference being that Saeko once again, wore the guards I gave her in the sports store.

And after a couple of moments of staring at each other later, Rei speaks up. I couldn't really focus on what she was saying though, as I noticed that Saeko was walking towards me.

"Thank you for the jacket Naier." Saeko extends her arm, holding my jacket towards me neatly folded.

"Glad I could help. You didn't have to fold it though, I'm going to wear it now anyway." I replied as I took the jacket and started wearing it on the spot, leaving it unzipped as I pulled the hood up over my mask.

With nothing more to say, we just kind of stared at each other. At least until I heard Saya 'ordering' the men to check the top of the slope.

"Oh. I think that includes me too." I say as I bowed slightly and turned my back to Saeko.

(Uhh… Why did I just do that?)

With that small bit of weirdness over with, I walk up to the guys.

"Ya'll ready.?" I ask the other boys.

They both respond with a nod. With that, we slowly started to accent the slope leading to the road.

(Well I know it's clear but, ughh. Yeah, there's no way I can explain that. Let's just play along.)

After slowly going up the slope, checking it and seeing that there are no corpses around, Takashi motions to the girls that the location is clear. While he was doing that, I walked up to Kohta.

"You might wanna move a bit from where you're standing right now" I advised Kohta.

"Huh? why?" He asks.

"I don't think the humvee is able to turn while driving up here, and you are right in its path." I chuckled a bit as I pointed towards the car down hill.

Kohta looks at the car behind him for a few seconds before nodding, moving away from his old spot with me. And after the car climbed up the girls followed along.

Saya then checked the roads around us with the binoculars.

"Wonder where all the corpses went." I wondered out loud.

(Well they all went to the refugee camp, aka Saya's house.)

"No idea… but the bridge was attacked."

Saya says as she looks through her binoculars towards the bridge.

"But, there should be some cops left… right?" Rei speaks up as she looks at Saya with a worried expression.

Saya frowns for a bit before answering.

"Yes… Japanese officers are all about their work after all." She says with a reassuring smile towards Rei.

(Well, would you look at that. Saya being considerate of others for once.)

I think as I kept a look around us. Rei smiles and replies with a nod, trying to make herself believe what she just heard.

"So, now what?" I ask.

"Takagi, isn't your house near here?" Takashi asks as he turns to her.

"Yeah." She replies sullenly as she turns to Takashi.

"So that's where we are heading next." Takashi adds right after.

(Again going exactly the same as in the anime. I don't think I will ever get used to hearing these lines from them. Still, I should find a way to avoid the car crash and Rei getting the 'git gud or learn to fly' treatment.)

"Hey, Naier. Come on we're leaving." I turn to the sound to see Kohta waving his arm from inside the humvee.

I nod and run to the car, climbing inside. And with everyone back inside the humvee, we went off.

Rei and Takashi were now up on the car's roof, pretty much the same deal as in the anime.

Saya on the front passenger seat. Alice on the back seat with me next to her. And Kohta, sitting in the trunk of the car with our equipment, as the Humvee has an 'open' trunk that connects with the rest of the car.

(Why in the actual fig is he sitting there when there are empty seats? Oh well, whatever floats your boat Kohta. More importantly.)

I move to the center and lean forward, so I can be between the two front seats. Saya then turns to me and moves her upper torso slightly away from me…

"What, what do you want?" She asks me with a frown.

"I don't see any corpses on the road. I don't like it." I say to the two in the front seats.

"Huh, why? Isn't it a good thing that there aren't any corpses around?" Shizuka asks.

"No. Because there's no way they just disappeared, I don't even see any 'dead' corpses around. The corpses here are gathered somewhere. Somewhere with a lot of constant loud noise." I warned as I kept looking outside.

Shizuka opens her mouth to say something..

"Just be alert in case we have to react fast." but I cut her off.

And just as I finish my sentence...

"I see corpses ahead!" Kohta shouts while looking over me through the binoculars.

"Slow the car down!" I shouted towards Shizuka.

"What, why?! And don't shout next to my ear you idiot!" Saya shouts back at me.

"You want Takashi and Rei to be up there while we're drifting around the corpse infested streets?" I ask as I turn to her, pointing to the roof with my finger.

Saya just stares at me with the same old frown before she looks away with a huff.

"Fine, slow down the car." She says a couple of seconds later. And so, Shizuka slows the car down to a stop.

I then opened the hatch and turned to look at the two people who decided that sitting on the roof of a moving vehicle was a good idea.

"Oi Love birds. Get back inside, lest you literally fly off." I say with a smirk before going back inside. With Rei, Takashi following behind me shortly after.

"Alright, we are all set, let's go" I say as I lean close to the front seats again.

With everybody safe inside, Shizuka started driving, following Saya's instructions on where to turn.

"What the, we keep seeing more and more of them as we get closer to Saya's house." Takashi speaks up. Causing Saya's face to turn grim.

"So there's a good chance that there are survivors there." Saya's head then darts instantly to me.

(Takashi you dorkenstein, think before you speak)

"Think about it. Loud noises could draw some corpses, but there were no corpses for miles. Meaning there should be a constant source of noise that is drawing them all there. And a constant source of noise means that there is a higher chance than not, of survivors being there." I keep staring at Saya as I speak.

She just nods, and turns away. But, I could see an ever slight smile as she turned her face to the window.

(No matter how bad her relationship with her parents might seem in the anime. I know she loves them. She would not call out for them during her breakdown otherwise.)

While I was thinking, I noticed that the humvee was picking up speed, probably so to pass through the corpses. I also started seeing brick-paved walls from the side windows.

(Brick paved walls? We're here, now, the wires. I got Rei back in the car meaning she won't be able to spot them. Not that it helped her much. But more important than that, I must make sure that the Humvee won't crash into the wires and get totaled .)

I get up and open the hatch...

"What are you doing Naier?" I turned my head to the voice to see Saeko looking at me.

"I need a better view. " I say as I pull my upper torso over the hatch of the car.

(Ok… what am I looking for. A sudden break of corpses on the road could be where the wires are.)

I think as I keep looking towards the street, but I could see no real end to the corpses.

And as I was doing that, the humvee kept picking up speed. A couple of seconds later, we started colliding with corpses, the Humvee sending the ones unlucky enough to be in our path flying to the left and right.

(Ughh, I can't see it… )

I lower myself, until my head is back in the car, and speak to Shizuka.

"Can you go a bit slower? We don't know what's up ahead." I asked Shizuka.

"If we slow down here we won't have enough force to carve a path through all of them you idiot!" Saya shouts at me.

(Ughh, got damn it.)

I go back up with a silent groan.

(Ok, Naier, just keep yourself focused. It won't be hard to see it, as you know what you're looking for.)

I narrow my eyes and keep staring at the front. And then, I saw it. A sudden break in the corpses ahead of us.

(There!)

"There is a sudden break in the corpses up ahead! There's something blocking their way! Slow down!" I shout at Shizuka as I climb back inside. And finally, someone saw the fence.

"It's a wire fence!" Saeko shouts.

Shizuka hits the brakes and the car starts screeching as it tries to come to a stop, slowly drifting sideways as it keeps sliding towards the fence.

(Shit, shit, shit.)

I know I was faster than Rei in spotting the fence. But still, I could feel my heart beating down my ears as the wire fence got closer.

(Come on. STOP DAMN IT!)

The Humvee goes up against the Fence wall, pushing it, slightly. And finally stops.

(Ughh too close for comfort. But now, we have a new problem…)

Corpses. A lot of them. And all of them, turned to 'stroll' towards our direction.

"Kohta! Where are the shotgun shells?" I 'ask', as I turn to Kohta.

"In your backpack! As you are the only one with a shotgun, I left all the shells there!" He shouts as he gripped his gun tightly, staring at the oncoming horde from the side window.

"Good." I nod as I quickly move to the back and grab my bag.

While I was getting my stuff, Kohta went up the hatch and started shooting the corpses that were near the car. I opened my bag and grabbed the first box with shotgun shells I saw. then started loading the first six shells into the gun, I was about to take three carton boxes of ammo. But my eyes stopped on the grenade belt.

(This time, no fuck ups.)

I grab the belt and strap it on me. I then finally walked out of the door that was on my right, three boxes of shotgun shells in hand.

(I could use the flashbang right now and clear the corpses near the Humvee. But, if I did that now, the corpses that will arrive later will just waltz right into us. No, I need the whole horde to be here before using it.)

Not using the flashbang now, meant that we had corpses coming towards us from all over the street. With that in mind, I walk towards the horde before kneeling down, leaving a box of shells on ground, several meters away from the corpses.

I then run to the left of the humvee, towards the wall to my left, and leave the second box. Again, several meters away from the corpses.

Lastly, I sprint in the opposite direction to the right and leave the final box on the road. With that done, I was ready to get into the 'real' part of this fight.

All the while I did that, Kohta was blasting heads off, while Saeko had gone in close combat along with Takashi and Rei. Saya, Alice and Shizuka were left inside the humvee.

I get up and look down the shotgun's sight, toward the oncoming horde of corpses. The sound of Kohta's gun echoing as I looked at the horde.

(Too many to run over with the car, and more are coming. It seems that we just have to hold on until Saya's mother arrives. So, now. We kill.)

And I pull the trigger...

With a loud echo, two corpses get sent flying back, falling down motionless.

(Two down, an unlimited number to go.)

I turn my shotgun slightly to the right.

Pump.

(5)

And pull the trigger, three more corpses down. Blood splattering on the brick-paved walls to my right as the corpses behind my targets get knocked down by the flying bodies.

Pump.

(4)

I aimed straight ahead, took a step forward, and fired. With a loud blast, two more corpses down.

Pump.

(3)

I take a step back and aim slightly to the left.

I didn't even aim as I pulled the trigger, three more corpses down.

The blood from the corpses I had shot was starting to paint the street in front of me red

Pump.

(2)

I then looked to my left. Saeko was in the 'middle' of the road, holding off the corpses with support fire from Kohta.

I look back ahead of me. And pull the trigger, three more corpses down.

Pump.

(1)

I then turn to look towards the far left wall. On the far left, Takashi and Rei, had taken position, holding off the oncoming corpses.

I glance at 'my' side again, and pull the trigger one last time.

(0)

I pumped the last round out, kneel down and start reloading the shotgun from the box of shells that I left on this side of the street. With each new shell I put in, I looked back at the oncoming corpses...

After I finished reloading the magazine, I pumped a new round in the chamber, before loading in the last shell. I then get up and turn my back to the horde and kick the carton with the inside part of my foot, causing it to slide a couple of meters away, towards the humvee. I grip the gun's forearm and turn around, staring back at the incoming horde.

(If i keep it up like this. I will be able to hold them off from 'my' spot, even though they just keep coming...)

I raise my shotgun again, but quickly realize something. I did not hear any gunshots. With the gun still aimed towards the corpses, I glance back at the Humvee.

(Kohta is reloading? Can't hear him shoot. Saeko might be a badass, but without Kohta to pick off the ones that walk past her, we will get overrun. If one side falls, then we get surrounded.)

I sidestep to my left, leaving the gun to fall to my sides, and start running towards the center.

"Saeko! Switch! I'm taking the center!" I shout at her. I then instantly saw Saeko doing several back hops away from the horde, before turning her head to me. She then started running towards me.

(My side has them further back compared to hers, also she won't have to worry about 'both' sides. Being center is more dangerous, but I got a shotgun.)

The moment she got close to me, she slowed down and turned to me.

"Be careful Naier" She says before she starts running again, moving towards the spot I was in before.

"You be careful. I got a fucking shotgun with a crapton of ammo." I say under my breath as I keep running towards the center…

After I reached the ammo box I left in the center, I turned to the horde.

They were near, almost in my face type of near.

Just as I aim down the sights, I see a corpse in front of me getting blown back, blood pouring out of a new hole in its head like a fountain...

"Kohta! Support Saeko on the right! I got this spot covered."

The moment I finished shouting, I restarted the massacre.

One pull of the trigger. Four corpses down.

Pump.

(5. As long as I got ammo left, you fuckers ain't taking a step towards my car.)

I fire another cheaply aimed shot towards my right. Three more corpses down.

Pump.

(4)

I turn to the left and fire, two more corpses down.

Pump.

(3)

I stop aiming and just point my shotgun towards the mass of corpses, and pull the trigger. Three more corpses down.

( It's near impossible to miss with this many ahead of me.)

Pump.

(2)

With each shot the wall was being pushed back, slowing down. Albeit, only momentarily.

Each corpse I sent flying back would fall on other corpses, causing all of them to fall to the ground. Each mount of corpses would then cause the ones behind them to either trip and fall, or to slow down to a crawl as they stumbled on the fallen corpses.

I shake my head and look down the sight. And with a quick motion, fire, pump and re-fire the last two rounds in the gun.

(0. There's no fucking end to them)

I look around me to see the ammo carton to my right, some meters away from me.

(When did I walk away from the box?)

"Reloading!" I shout to Kohta as I run to the carton, stopping with a slide as I grab it.

I open the box and start loading new shells into the gun, keeping an eye on the horde after each new shell. After I was done I kicked the carton back towards the humvee the same way I did with the last one.

I then glance towards Saeko to see how she's holding on to the right. And judging from her constant movement, counters, and number of bashed heads around her?

(She's holding up fine.)

Then I turn my attention to the left.

From where I was standing, I could see that corpses had already walked past the 'defense line'. If I counted the ammo cartons I left on the ground as a 'defense line' that is.

"Takashi, Rei get over here! I'm taking your spot!" I shout out at the two as I start moving towards the left.

Looking at the left side I could see even more corpses than before. Actually scratch that… I could see more corpses coming from all sides.

(Come on! Saya's mother better be here soon!)

As I run towards the left, Rei and Takashi run past me. I kept my sight focused towards the horde that had shambled past the 'defense line' as I kept running. Once a couple of meters away from the horde, I stop dead in my tracks, then aim down the sights.

Right now I had the main part of the 'left' horde to my right. Ahead of me I could see a smaller cluster of corpses which had already stumbled past me. The left side led to the fence. Thankfully, it was still clear of corpses.

I quickly fire a shot, chest height, aimed towards the main horde to my right. The shot caused several corpses to be blown back, and in the process, the other corpses behind them to either fall on each other or sidestep away from the direction they were going.

I pump a new round and turn back towards the group ahead of me, which was now looking straight at me.

Pump.

(5.)

I start walking straight towards the corpses.

(The blast from my last shot caused the corpses on the right side to fall back some, so I won't have to worry about the right for a few seconds.)

I aim at the corpses ahead of me. Then shoot, again at chest height. And another group of corpses gets blasted back.

Pump.

(4. I need to clean them from the ammo carton, or at least get it out of their shambling feet)

I think as I pump a new round in the gun. The box with the ammo was now almost a meter away from me. I aim the shotgun straight ahead once more, and pull the trigger.

I pump a new round and instantly pull the trigger again.

Another chest shot on the corpses ahead of me, and a new round in the chamber.

Pump.

(2)

I drop the gun to my sides and run to the box of shells. With all the knocked down corpses, the box was under a pair of feet right now. Thankfully, feet don't bite, yet...

I kick said feet away and kneel down, grabbing the carton. I then hug the shotgun and roll towards the fence, dodging a few wandering hands.

Once I felt the ground on my feet I stand up straight and turn around pointing the shotgun with one hand, the box held with the other.

(This will be one inaccurate shot. Not that it matters much, there's a fucking wall of corpses here.)

Another loud blast echoed Pump

The recoil was enough to cause my arm to bend, the shotgun almost hitting my face as corpses got sent flying back. It had reached the point. that I could just blind shoot towards the horde, and all the pellets would still find a target...

In other words. It was time for plan two.

(Too many of them… )

Box of shells still in hand, I ran to the humvee.

"Kohta! Cease fire, cease fire!" I shout as I open the humvee's door and throw the ammo box inside before slamming the door shut.

"What! Are you crazy!?" Kohta shouted back at me, I could see a hard glare on his eyes. I pull the flashbang out of the belt's pocket, and show it to him.

"Yea, I fucking am." I respond as I climb up the humvee from the hood. Kohta looks at the flashbang and nods. He then goes back inside the car as he turns the safety on his gun.

"Everybody! Back in the car. Right now!" I shout at Takashi, Rei and Saeko.

I saw Rei and Takashi looking at me for a split second before they turned their heads back towards the horde. Saeko was, probably too aroused to even hear me...

(Oh for fuck's sake you hillbilly berserkers!)

"Get back to the fucking car! I'm not taking another flashbang in the face for your sorry asses!" I scream as loud as I can, raising my hand and waving the flashbang in the air.

This time the three reacted appropriately and started running back towards the humvee...

And the moment the last person reached the car, I prepped the flashbang.

"Eyes shut, ears closed." I say in a calm voice and pull the pin.

"And you shitheads, can go… Deaf!" I shout as I toss the flashbang as far back from the horde as possible.

I quickly duck and cover my ears while I turn my upper body towards the fence, my eyes closed. And then, not a second later, a dull sound echoes in my head for a couple of seconds.

I open my eyes, shake my head, and look back. Heart beating like a drum in my chest.

(If this didn't work, we are screwed. In more ways than one.)

I stared at the horde of corpses, as they slowly started turning around. Walking in the opposite direction of the fence, of us. I nod and climb back inside the car, shit-eating grin on my face and all.

Yet, I didn't even manage to sit down before Kohta started being 'noisy'. Good thing the car has some basic soundproofing. I hope...

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Kohta shouts with a loud voice, still looking at the horde as it shambled away.

"Please. My ideas might occasionally be made out of stupid, but it's the working type of stupid." I respond with a shrug.

"Occasionally?" Saya says as she turns towards me with a slight smirk and one eyebrow raised.

"We're still alive ain't we? And this time around, nobody went blind, or deaf, or worse. I call this a win." I respond as I turn to Saya, slightly raise both my hands and shrug.

"But what do we do now?" Saeko asks shortly after.

"We wait for them to leave and then drive away?" Shizuka adds on.

"The fence. Maybe there are survivors on the other side?" Saya asks as she stares at the other side of the fence.

(We should have Saya's mother to the rescue soon. Or not. We are safe enough to wait here so it doesn't really matter.)

"I think we should wait for now, shut down the car engine so it won't attract any more corpses on us. And after the coast is clear, we'll see what we'll do." I respond as I look past the fence.

And like that, a couple of minutes passed with the engine turned off, and us staying as silent as the grave. Even if Kohta's initial shouting was proof enough the corpses ignored us, or did they actually go deaf?...

Until finally. A sound other than the moaning of the distant corpses was heard. A knock on the window, from the side of the fence. The whole group jumped in surprise, only to see a person in a firefighter suit waving at us.

(We made it..)

The group starts smiling, and the smiling then turns into cheering as they open the hatch and climb outside. It seems that there's a whole group of people in firefighter suits on the other side of the fence. Again, just like in the anime.

The people in the suits then helped us to get on the other side of the wire fence. And once we were all over, Shizuka walked up to the one that was apparently giving the orders.

"Thank you for saving us." She says as she takes a deep bow.

The person whom Shizuka was speaking to then proceeded to remove the helmet of the suit. Revealing it to be none other than Saya's mother.

"There is no need for that now, it's only natural to help my daughter and her friends after all" Saya's mom responds with a smile.

(And we, are, done. I wonder, should I ask Saeko to train with me tomorrow? I'll also need to make sure Kohta won't get bullied with the gun business. As for Saya, well she will be extra grumpy now soo. Yeah, good luck with that me. Rei and Takashi will probably do, 'stuff'?)

"That being said. Who is, Naier Sepfier?" Yuriko , aka Saya's mother, asks as she looks at the group, her sight stopping on me.

(Hmm, she knows my name… Wait. She knows my name? Why the hell does she know my name?)

I raised my hand and. I didn't even manage to speak before I found myself surrounded by the people wearing the firefighter suits.

(Oh, This… can't be a good sign)

Yuriko then walks up to me. And seconds later. I was staring down the barrel of her luger.

(Does this have something to do with my debts? I mean Saya's family is filthy rich. Wouldn't be surprised if she owned a bank or two.)

"So, you are the one who placed my daughter in needless danger." She says as her eyes turn into a cold stare.

(I, did, what?)

Was all I could think as I slowly raised my other hand...

The rest of the group was now talking? Shouting? I couldn't really tell. Too focused on the gun aimed at my head.

(What… the… fuck?)


	15. New house, new problems

(Well, it's official. My life… sucks.)

I sigh as I look around the empty room for the millionth time. Right now, I was locked in what seemed to be an empty bedroom on the second floor in Saya's 'house'.

(At least, I managed to get here..)

I think as I look at my right hand, that was handcuffed to a hole in the table in front of me

(At least I'm not in an actual cell. I got a big ass window on my back to let the sunshine in… )

I sigh and hit my head on the table.

(God this is a pack of bullshit.)

I could feel the cold wood on my cheek as I took a deep breath.

(After Saya's mom went all American Cop on me, they separated me from the group and took me here. While I understand why they took all of my equipment. Did they really have to take my mask too? I liked that mask…)

I lift my head slightly only to bump it on the table again.

(Ughhh… I was planning on having a break here. So give me a fucking break.)

I let out a dry laugh as I lift my head and look around the room one more time.

(I have been sitting here for god knows how long after Yuriko, aka Saya's mom, decided to arrest me for… endangering the group? What sort of holy crap is that anyway? We are in the middle of a god damn zombie outbreak people, get with the times.)

I gave my handcuffs a couple of light tugs, when I heard the door open. I turned my head to see Yuriko walking inside. She closed the door behind her and walked to the other side of the table, before taking a seat herself. She then started staring at me in silence...

(Oh great. Now I'm in a fucking detective movie.)

We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, just… staring at each other.

(Does she have to stare so hard?)

"So, uhh…what now? You're going to execute me or something?" I ask jokingly.

"It's one of the debatable options." She answers calmly as she keeps staring.

(She's joking. Right?)

I sigh at her response...

"What do you want from me then?" I ask. And before she could speak up, I continued.

"Because I don't think you came here just to stare at me..." I lean back on my chairs as I switch my glance to the handcuffs on my hand.

"Indeed I did not Sepfier. I'm here for a reason." She says as she folds her arms under her chest and leans back on her chair as well.

"I'm here so we can decide what we will do with you." She says as she keeps staring at me.

(We? Isn't Saya's father supposed to be at a powerplant or something? Actually, why the fuck does she know my name in the first place? Not many people should know it. Other than my group, that did not have any contact with her up until now, my 'family' that is on the other side of the globe and… )

The door then opens once again. And a certain, snake faced, glass toting, suit-wearing slimeball walks in.

(Shido... I know, I shouldn't be surprised… But. How. The. Hell? In the anime he arrived right before the nuke blast, so he is here way too fucking early. Ughh, and let me guess, he is somehow connected to the reason as of why I'm sitting here right now. Why can't he just, fade out from existence or something?)

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to find you here. Sepfier." Shido speaks up, his signature 'I eat shit' grin plastered on his face

"You and me both..." I answer as I keep staring at him..

"Ohh, how the people of this mansion barely dodged a disaster. How lucky they are that I managed to arrive here before you, and warn them of you and what you did to us" Shido puts his fingers on his forehead as he speaks with a rather dramatic flair.

"Sure, yeah. I'm sure you told them the one and only truth. Still, riddle me this. Seeing as I'm chained up to a table and pretty much pose no threat any more. How the hell did you manage to get here before me?" I ask as Shido moves to sit next to Saya's mother.

"Ah, I have to thank you for that Sepfier. Had you not tried to kill us all, I would have never managed to get here in time." Shido speaks up, smugness pretty much oozing out of his mouth.

"Huh, care to explain that to stupid ol me?" I say with a sarcastic tone as I lift an eyebrow.

"Well you see Sepfier. After you sabotaged the bus, after you caused the split and after you abandoned us back there and left us for dead, we became stranded. We had to go on foot because of you for... I can't even recall how long. Thankfully, we were rescued by the esteemed gentlemen from the Takagi Estate, alas not all of us were so lucky. While I did my very best to protect my dear students, Thanks to you. We had casualties. Casualties that could have been easily avoided have you not acted so irrationally. I'm just glad that, the poor souls that you have dragged with you on your merry journey are still all safe. I could not bear it, were I to lose any more of my dear students because of you" Shido was really starting to get into it, by now and was speaking with such passion, such flare...

(Such grandiose bullshit. I asked him how he got here, not to spin me his tale of gory)

"Until, as luck would have it. We crossed paths with an armed group. They helped us get here. Really fortunate, these kind people, that I managed to warn them about you. Who knows what you would have done to these poor souls if I was not present to warn them of your ways." Shido then grinned as he kept looking at me.

('Helped' huh. I wonder if your female students 'helped' them make their decision to pick sorry sorry ass along. Seeing how you turned the bus into a fuckfest in the anime, I won't really be surprised if you used some similar tactic now as well. I would also go on a limb and say that these guards are also on his side now. God I want to strangle him so bad.)

"But, unlike you, I'm not a monster. I shall leave the good people of this fine community to decide your fate." He says with a grin.

"Sure. fill them with your bullshit, then let them stain their hands for you. Sick fuck." I growled under my breath so nobody could hear me.

"What was that Sepfier?" Shido leans forward as his smug grin gets wider than ever.

"I said… this is a free country, so I don't see a problem with that." I say as I try my best to keep my face straight. Shido just keeps grinning as he gets up and turns around, exiting the room from the same door he entered.

And the moment the door closed. I breathe out.

"Well, shit" I turned to Yuriko as I spoke.

"So, when am I getting executed?" I ask sarcastically.

"As he said, this is for the people to decide..." She says as she keeps a serious face.

"Ohh please. For the people to decide? That guy is a politician in a crocodile's skin. I wouldn't be surprised if he has every single idiotic refugee mesmerized with his bullshit." I say as I glare back at Saya's mother.

Yuriko opens her mouth to speak…

"And why in God's name he seems to be the one calling the shots here? Last time I checked this was the 'Takagi' estate, shouldn't you or your husband be the ones calling the shots here?" But I cut her off as I continued talking.

Finishing my tirade, I slump back on my chair. Yuriko stares silently at me for some time. She keeps looking at me until… She lets out a tired sigh.

"I would like to believe that you are smart enough not to buy into that guy's bullshit. While I did cause the initial group to split and I did sabotage the bus. I did it because it was a necessity. That man is far more dangerous than I am" As I keep talking Yuriko gets up, turns around and walks towards the door…

(Welp… I'm fucked.)

And locks it.

(...ehh?)

She then returns and sits on the opposite side of the table once again.

"I was not born yesterday Naier. I have dealt with characters like Shido longer than you could even imagine." She says as she smiles slightly.

(She's talking about the time she worked as a stockbroker? Probably. Actually that is also the reason why I hoped that she wouldn't be swayed by that sleazebag.)

"Then, what's with all this? If I were to believe that you don't buy into his crap, why do you and your husband let him stroll around like he owns the place? Why did you friggin arrest me?" I ask incredulously.

She sighs before looking straight into my eyes.

"Because. Because my Husband is gone… " She says as she keeps looking at me, her eyes leaking a bit of sadness.

(Wait, what?)

"A couple of days ago he and a team of engineers went to fix a nearby power plant. And two days ago a group of guards that went with them as protection, returned without the rest. Almost half of the guards that were part of that team were gone, along with Souichirou and the engineers. They told us that the facility was overrun by the infected." Finishing her story, she then takes a deep breath.

"As for the reason why this Shido character has so much influence now. It's practically my fault." She says. I tilt my head to the side and raise an eyebrow.

"You were not wrong about him acting like a politician, because his father is one actually. And as you yourself have experienced, he is quite the talker, even charismatic in his own way. Perfect to sway the masses when they are in need of somebody to believe in.

He was here less than a day and almost all of the refugees outside are now under his sway… All the while he was gaining influence, I was trying to put together a rescue team to head to the power plant. And without a figure to counter his influence, without Souichiro to lead the men. I have practically lost control. As for why I arrested you. Well, so far Shido has found no opposition from me, he probably thinks I'm a pushover. This is why I acted as I did and captured you. If he thinks I'm no threat, or if he thinks that I'm on his side. Then he won't get in my way." After she finishes she leans forward and rests her hands on the table.

"Out of curiosity, the returning guards. Same guards that found Shido and his group?" Yuriko just nods to my question.

"Oh for fuck's sake. Why does this guy bring trouble wherever he fucking treads, pardon my french" Yuriko just chuckles as I plant my face on the table.

"If my husband was here, he would be able to do something about all of this as he holds far more power than me. And well, more importantly, the other armed personnel would listen to him without question." Her face returns to a serious expression as she talks

"You mentioned something about a rescue. When will that happen?" I ask as I lift my face from the table.

"Tomorrow." She answers bluntly.

"Yea… no. I'll be dead by then if we let Shido do as he pleases." I say as I lower my head to the desk once more, resting my chin on it.

"Ughh. Anyway, how are the rest?" I ask, my head still on the desk.

"The rest?" She asks back.

"My group, the ones I, endangered, you know." I say as I keep my face on the desk.

"They are fine. They went to sleep an hour ago or so." She answers.

"I see. At least they are taking this whole situation well."I say as I lift my head and look down at the table.

(Also considering that the group, in the anime, ended up fighting with each other here. It's not so bad. What with Saya going off about how her parents left her for dead. Kohta going ballistic on Takashi because he kind of manhandled Saya. And Shizuka being, uhh, I don't know. Midlife crisis mode?

I guess if they are too busy with my sorry ass it keeps them from going after each other's asses… Heh. Uhh… Wait…)

"An hour ago? How long have I been locked up in here?" I ask as I lift my sight from the desk and look at Yuriko.

"About, four hours I think? And as for them taking your imprisonment well. Honestly, I think they just got exhausted after screaming at me for so long.

I mean, even if I did believe Shido, with how much Saya shouted at my ear to release you. You can't be that bad if my daughter is so fond of you." Yuriko smiles as she finishes.

"Hhmm...yeaaa… whut?" I blink several times as I keep staring at the woman.

"I think you're probably mistaking me for Takashi. I'm the guy who she doesn't even remember by name, with how she keeps calling me an idiot all of the time." I say as I stare at her.

"Hmm Takashi… Ahh, yes her childhood crush. Turned out to be quite one-sided from what I see. For all the smarts my daughter says she has, she really can't bring herself to understand how she needs to act towards the guy she likes. A real shame really." I just sat there staring while Yuriko kept talking.

She looks at me for a few seconds, before putting her hand over her mouth as she lets out a giggle.

"Whats with that incredulous look on your face? I'm her mother you know. Of course I would understand things like that." She says as she tilts her head, expression full of mirth.

"Ummm. Yes,of course. So uhh, can we get back to how I will be dead before sundown?" I say as I scratch the back of my head with my free hand.

Yuriko, still smiling, starts speaking again.

"Don't worry, I'm still a Takagi and this still is my house, I won't let anybody execute you" As she finishes she folds her arms under her chest.

"And then Shido would use your refusal for cooperation as a reason to turn the masses against you. No, that won't work, we need another plan. Other than actively opposing him and his merry midgets." I say as I put my free hand under my chin.

"Just to be clear. You will help me if need be, right?" I ask, as Yuriko just nods in response...

I then lower my head and close my eyes.

(Ok... I need a plan. First of all, I need to curate the current state of things…

My group is asleep, or so Yuriko says. In either case, they are probably out of action and can't help me right now.

Shido has managed to brainwash the hippie wannabe protestors and a group of armed guards with his bullshit. The guards probably had an extra helping of Yuuki, though that's just speculation, maybe they were just that gullible.

More importantly, said masses of idiots will probably want me dead or exiled if they believe I'm what Shido portraits me as. Yuriko is on my side, but if she were to take any overt action it would let Shido use her act of helping me to turn the refugees against her. And that could turn sour fast

That leaves. The armed forces and the head honcho, Saya's dad, who is now MIA at the powerplant. A place that, if the guards that are under Shido's sway are to be believed, is overrun with corpses.

Being that Saya's dad is also involved in politics, and he is described as charismatic, and scary as fuck. If he was here, he should have beenb able to tear Shido a new one in his own stupid little game.

Question is if he is still alive...)

"Question." I lift my head as I begin to speak, causing Yuriko to focus on me.

"Whose side the armed personnel will take in case things get bad? And, said personnel, are they professionals or not? Knowing their allegiance would be key in any further plans." Finishing my question I lean back on my chair.

"Most of the people acting as armed guards now were loyal followers of my husband long before the outbreak. So they would definitely lend their support if Souichirou was here. And no, most of them did not really have any training. They were not in the military or anything like that." Finishing her reply Yuriko averts her eyes from me and starts looking out of the window, probably to hide how vexed she was with the current state of affair.

(So they have practically no experience handling firearms, though I can't discount the possibility that they have other martial capabilities. They are after all, a part of an Ultra Nationalist Party in Japan, some of them probably have martial arts training. So it seems they just happened to get the guns right after the outbreak because of Saya's dad's influence?)

"And if he is dead?" I say as I keep my eyes on Yuriko.

"Hard to say. Maybe the whole place will get wrapped in chaos as each of the lieutenants struggle for dominance. Normally, if Souichirou were to die, I'm the one that was supposed to take his position as leader. But I'm not him, I'm not confident that I can get the full support of his men. I might have had a hand in increasing this family's wealth, but for his men, I am respected simply because I married into this family.

It was my husband who built this. Who had gathered the people under him. There is a big chance, with Souichirou gone, some of the people that would normally be at our side, will probably decide stay out of it. While it is unlikely that they would turn against me, it's still a possibility." She keeps her eyes on the window as she speaks.

"I see. Did he have any armed people with him, other than the engineers? I don't mean guards like the ones that found Shido, armed personnel that stay with him." I ask after a silent moment.

"Yes he does. And I do believe he is still alive, he's not one to die this easily." She answers with a determined expression on her face.

(She has a lot of faith in him. And well, he was walking around with a bonafide katana. So yeah. Anyway, there are only two things I can do right now. Wait and hope he would return by himself.

Or…

Try to find Souichiro Takagi, Saya's dad, myself before the retarded refuges here try to violently remove my head from my shoulders.)

"Hypothetically speaking, how hard would it be for somebody to escape from here and go to the powerplant on foot?" As I ask, Yuriko turns her sight to me, raising an eyebrow at my question.

"Impossible, especially if said 'hypothetical' person is handcuffed to a table." She says as she folds her arms, disapproving what I'm implying.

I keep staring at her, until she finally lets out a sigh.

"You know what you're planning to do is crazy, almost suicidal in fact, right? We are already preparing a whole team of armed people to go there." Hey eyebrows take a worried frown as she speaks.

"A group that might be in cahoots with Shido you mean." I respond as I tilt my head.

I added the most likely action that Shido would do to sabotage the rescue, causing Yuriko to stare at me. A moment later she released another sigh.

"And what am I supposed to say to your friends then? I already have a negative reputation with them by arresting you. What am I supposed to say..."

"They don't need to know." I cut her off. Yuriko remained silent, so I continued on.

"Because after me, they will likely be the next targets for Shido to try and make disappear. They do know his true nature after all. It's better to try and stop this 'infection' before it gets out of hand." After I finish, Yuriko sighs again and shakes her head...

After some seconds, she gets up.

"Are you absolutely sure about this? I mean, try to see this from my point of view. You are asking me to send a kid to a facility that is supposed to be overrun by flesh eating monsters." She responds up as she stares at my face.

"If I were to stay here, hoping for a miracle that we both know is not coming any time soon, I'm dead either way. Might as well go with the option where I 'might' survive." I answer with as much conviction as I can.

Yuriko stayed silent for some time, her face giving off the impression that she is in deep thought.

"... Wait here." She says as she turns around and moves towards the door. She unlocks it and exits the room, closing the door behind her, before locking it from the outside.

"Oh ok, I was about to take the table and go for a stroll. But I guess I'll wait since she asked…" I say sarcastically as I give the handcuffs a tug and slump back on the chair.

(Sooo, Saya is fond of me huh? Coulda fooled me…heh… )

A couple of minutes passed before I heard the door being unlocked once more. I was actually tense for a few seconds, thinking that Shido had decided to go 'fuck it' and try finish me off now with Yuriko out off the way. Thankfully I didn't see that snake's face coming through the door as Yuriko walked inside, along with my backpack.

The moment she walked into the room two more people followed behind her, locking the door behind them. I just watched the whole event silently.

With the door locked, Yuriko then turned towards the two men.

"Alright, stand by the door you two, this won't take long." She says to the two as she walks to me, uncuffs me and takes the handcuffs away.

(Finally, I thought I was about to get married to this table with how intimate we were being.)

I crack my wrist to limber up any stiffness from being cuffed the whole time.

"Your equipment should all be in here, minus the shotgun obviously." Yuriko passes the backpack to me as she speaks. I nod and take the bag.

(Hello old friend, missed me?)

"So… what's the plan on getting me out of here?" I ask, and one of the guys that came with Yuriko turns to look at me.

"We are to be on the next patrol that will leave in about ten minutes. Before we leave the mansion we'll pick you up en route, and from there we'll take you outside with the patrol jeep. After that, we drive you towards the power plant." The guards speaks up, Yuriko nods after the he finishes talking.

"Okay. Now in the backpack, I've also placed a two-way radio that is normally used by the guards. Except this one has been tuned to only broadcast to a specific frequency so it won't transmit to every single radio in the vicinity, only to this one here can get a signal from it" Yuriko says as she waves a radio in her hand ..

"I also left a handgun with two clips in your backpack. Your shotgun I'm afraid..."

"Too big to hide, and too noisy to stealthily walk around with, I know." I cut in, Yuriko nods before she continued speaking.

"After you reach the powerplant, Look for any survivors. Anyone sent there is quite important to rescue, though your main objective is still finding Souichiro. If he is no longer alive. Bring proof of his death back with you, we'll think of a different way to get you off the firing line after that." Yuriko kept a straight face as she spoke of the morbid subject. I just nodded in response.

"While we do not have a map of the interior of the power plant, we do have some basic information about it. The facility should have two buildings, the main building containing the office and control rooms, and a warehouse. Any other structures there are simply part of the power generation process and only part of the infrastructure, so you should focus your search on these two buildings.

The facility should also have two giant chimneys that you should be able to see from a distance if you somehow lose your bearings on the way there. Now, last but not least, the place is supposed to be overrun, so don't do anything stupid alright?" Finishing, Yuriko stands up and looks at the guards.

They nodded and started moving, probably to the jeep.

"Okay kid, Miss Yuriko will take you to the location we agreed to make a stop so we can pick you up without anyone finding out. You will hide there until we arrive" With that last remark done, they turn around and leave.

Yuriko then signals me to follow her, I get up and throw my bag over my shoulder, once I reach the door, she gives me the handcuffs along with the key.

"Handcuff yourself please. Just in case anybody else sees you, it's easier to explain if you're handcuffed. " She says as she hands them over to me.

"Can't have dangerous me running around the building huh..." I chuckle and put the handcuffs on, pocketing the key in the process, Yuriko just stares back at me...

"Let's go." She said before we both exited the room and started moving towards the stairs...

As we moved down the tall hallways, I could not help but marvel at the opulent house.

(Carpeted floors, marble pillars, all the good stuff. Don't think I'll ever get used to such a house.)

"I feel like a spec ops operative for some reason… " I say as we walk down the hallway. Yuriko was about to speak, only to close her mouth the moment we reached the stairs.

I looked at Yuriko before turning my sight towards where she was looking...

(Ohh boy… )

The stairs had a certain moody pink-haired person sitting on the top stair, both hands under her chin and her elbows on her knees. She was staring off towards the exit...

I turn to see Yuriko, whose face has taken an obvious sad frown.

"Any other way we can exit the building?" I whisper. She turns to me, taken somewhat off guard.

"Y, yes." She turns around and motions me to follow her.

I give Saya a last glance before turning around, picking up speed towards the opposite direction...

If the mood was bad back then, well, it has now hit rock bottom. Yuriko for one looked rather dejected as she walked next to me.

"Don't get killed Sepfier … " She speaks up.

"Don't make me have to be the one to tell them that I sent you off on a suicide mission. Saya already hates me enough as it is… " She continues, sadness very apparent in her voice.

"Nobody hates you, they're just on edge, that's all. And I know that, your daughter loves you. It is just as you said, she simply fails to show it correctly." I say as we keep walking, keeping my eyes straight ahead...

We kept silent until we reached another set of stairs. These ones were empty, so after we went down the stairs we instantly headed out the exit. Once we were outside, Yuriko motioned me to follow her as she went to the right, straight towards a small patch of trees next to the main house.

And after reaching said trees, Yuriko turned around to me.

"Wait here Naier, the jeep with the guards should pass from here, the guards will make a stop in front of you so you can get in. After that keep your head down until they tell you that you are in the clear… " After she finishes talking she turns to leave.

"Saya will understand." I say as Yuriko begins walking away, causing her to stop and turn around.

"And if she doesn't, I will explain it to her myself. After I bring her father back." I say with a slight nod towards Yuriko, before turning around and walking deeper into the cluster of trees.

(Saya needs to cut her mother some slack.)

I think as I sit by a tree, doing my best to hide myself in the foliage.

(I wonder what the rest are really doing. If Saya was not asleep, the rest might be awake too.)

And with that. I take the key out of my pocket and take the handcuffs off. Then, I open my bag, toss the handcuffs in and look inside to better catalog what's inside.

(Let's see, leg guards, arms guards, the walkie talkie, my swiss knife, a flashlight, map, and ohh the pistol Yuriko was talking about.)

I pick up the handgun, take out the magazine and then take one bullet out.

(Looks like a SIG P220, 9x19 mm bullets. Well, it's still a peashooter compared to the Ithaca… And now I miss my shotgun. Ohh well, better than nothing.)

I put the bullet back inside and then insert the mag back in the gun, then leave the gun on the grassy floor and keep looking inside the bag.

(There's the mags, the flashbang belt is here, no flashbangs though. Hmmm I see another belt here.)

I grab the belt and pull it out, pulling a leather holster along with it. I nod, thanking Yuriko in my heart, and strap the belt on my waist. I then take the handgun off the ground and put it in the holster on my right.

(Shame that it's a right hand holster, I'm left-handed. Well won't be too hard to just draw it and then switch hands.)

I turn back to the bag.

(More importantly, where… is… my… mask!)

I was starting to get frustrated as I took the leg and arm guards out of the bag, to make it easier to see inside the bag. I then start looking back inside.

(It better be in here, or I'm going to sue…hmm?)

I grab a hard object from the bottom of the bag and pull it out. Pulling my mask along with its balaclava.

(Why hello there.)

I then put the balaclava on, followed by the mask shortly after...

(Much better.)

I then take the arm and leg guards I left on the grass and strap them on me as well. After I was done, I focused back on my bag and began looking inside again.

(Can't find my screwdriver, guess they took it. Why though?)

With that over with, I put the radio in my front pocket, and strap the bag back on my back...

I then spend the next couple of minutes staring at the people that passed by the road...

(I really have an urge to play video games right now. What the hell is wrong with me?)

I shake my head as I chuckle.

(Guess some habits die hard. Or well, they don't die at all. I wonder, what would the girls think of me if they knew I was an avid gamer…

Other than Saya calling me an idiot obviously. Saeko, would probably tell me I need to train my body or something?

Nahh, I'm just thinking in stereotypes now. Maybe she would like games where she could kill the shit out of the one sitting next to her? So anything PVP?

Or one with excessive violence, isn't that a stereotype too though?

Kohta, fps, shooters. Has guns, he likes. In the anime it was pretty much proven that he did play video games when he spoke with Saya while on the bus.

Takashi. Uhh, I feel like he would be the guy to play whatever his friends would play...

Rei, hmm, she would seem like a fighting game type of person? I can't really tell.

Saya, I'll say RTS or general strategy games. Just so she can show off how smart she is of course…

Shizuka, uhh...umm. The Sims? Goat simulator? I get the feeling that she would play whatever and yet still manage to do something crazy without even knowing the games buttons. Like stuffing a jet plane into a house without exploding or something.

And little Alice. I'll just say pokemon, don't think her parents would let her play something violent. Though I guess beating the crap out of wild creatures and then stuffing them in balls so you can use them to beat the crap of other wild creatures is not very nonviolent now that I think about it...)

I then let off a giant yawn.

(Ughh, if I don't count that half-hour in the humvee. I still haven't slept since yesterday.)

Just as I shake my head to clear the cobwebs, I finally see a jeep stopping some meters away from the patch of trees I was hiding in...

(Is this my ride?)

I then see the guard I met earlier exit the jeep's passenger seat as he begins to walk towards my direction. I get up and walk to him.

"We good?" I ask.

He stares at me for a couple of seconds before nodding...

"Yea… Come on, we can't stay too long." With that, I follow him to the car

(That looks like a Mitsubishi Type 73? Isn't that thing supposed to be used by the Japanese military or something? Uhh whatever, guess I'm hiding in the back.)

I quickly walk to the jeep and enter it via the passenger's seat, then move to the back, then lie down. The second guard then enters the car and closes the door, just as the jeep begins to move.

"Do I hide under a cover or something?" I ask.

"Nahh, just stay down. The front gate guards are too lazy to come and check anyway." The driver speaks up.

"If you say so." I say as I look around the jeep to pass the time...

And a couple of turns later, the guards started speaking again.

"Alright, we are nearing the gate, stay down and stay quiet." The guard on the passenger seat speaks up, and some seconds later, the car comes to a full stop.

The driver opened the door slightly and spoke to, presumably, the gate guards.

"Oi, open up, guard patrol! " He shouts before closing the car's door, and shortly after, the car starts moving again.

(Well, that was simple.)

And a couple of minutes later...

"And we are in the clear, you can get up now" The guy on the passenger seat speaks up again.

With that, I get up to a sitting position.

"There should be a combat knife in the back there somewhere for you. Find it, and take it with you." The same guy adds up.

"Got it" I say as I start looking around the back of the jeep…

It was, Quite the mess to be honest. Bags and packages of snacks or food were tossed around seemingly in a hurry. I could also see the butt of what seemed to be an assault rifle under some bags too.

"The place is kind of a mess, where exactly is the knife?" I ask.

"Uhh. Look behind my seat, should be around there somewhere." The driver answers.

And like that, I start scanning around my left...

(Bags, bags and more bags, what a clutter-fest. Hmm, oh wait a minute, that might be it.)

What seemed to be the hilt of a knife was stuck in the corner next to the seat, I grabbed it and pulled it out, and the combat knife was finally revealed.

"Got it, thanks for the heads up" I respond as I look at the knife.

"Don't mention it, you'll need all the help you can get" The guy on the passenger seat turns to me as he speaks.

"But maaan. Sucks to be you" The driver then exclaimed.

"You are stuck here doing a suicide mission while the other dude from your group is getting all funky with the girls back at the house." The driver continues.

"Who… ? Is doing what… ?" I ask as I stare at the driver.

(Takashi better not be trying to woo the girls while I'm out here trying to stop my execution.

Or worse. The girls, trying to woo Takashi… Gahh God damn it, this is making me salty as hell.)

"Yeah, he was hanging around with two of them near the entrance of the main building. One of them had orange hair, the other one purple." The driver casually continues.

"Ughh… for fuck's sake Takashi. At least wait until I'm actually dead you fucktard." I say as I start tapping my hand on my leg.

"So that's his name huh. So, which one?" The driver asks.

"Which one, what?"I ask back.

"Which one you like obviously..." The driver says as he turns his head to me, and ends up staring at my mask.

"Eyes on the road..." I say back to the driver.

He just laughs and turns his head back to the road. And a couple of seconds later,

"So come on, out with it ninja boy" The driver speaks up again.

"Talk about a personality switch. You were acting way different from when I saw you with Miss Takagi..." I say with a sigh.

"Hey, we do have to show respect to Miss Takagi" The driver answers back.

"Well come on, you are willing to go and run around in an overrun facility and you can't answer that much? Speak up, come on man up. It's not like we're going to blab to anyone about this." The driver says as he turns to me again.

"Ughh...fine. As long as it makes you stop bothering me, It's the purple-haired one. Ya happy now?" I say as I fold my arms.

(I'm obviously not telling them I like Saya as well. I highly doubt Saya's dad is dead, and I doubt these guys can actually keep their mouths zipped)

"See, it wasn't that hard now was it" The driver just laughs as he turns his head back to the street.

"Are you trying to make me flip out? Because you are doing a pretty good job so far." I say as I lean forward and poke the side of the driver's seat with my new knife.

"Yea yea. Hah, sorry didn't mean to pick on you. No hard feelings?" The driver says as he keeps snickering.

I sigh and pull the knife back...

(I expected the guys that work under Saya's dad to be more. You know, all work no fun type, with a katana sheath lodged up their ass or some crap.)

"Well I wouldn't worry about it that much." The guy on the passenger seat adds right after.

"What?" I turn my sight to the passenger as I ask.

"About the girls, my friend here is just being a dick. The guy was not getting funky with anybody, he was just talking." The passenger turns to look at me as he finishes.

(Talking CAN be a reason to worry. Especially when it comes down to Saeko and Takashi. Still, postponing turning Takashi into a gib sandwich… for now.)

The driver was about to talk again, when...

"Naier." The radio in my pocket comes alive, and the driver instantly shuts up as I pull out the walkie talkie.

"I'm here, we have just left the estate and are heading towards the drop off point" I say as I speak to the radio.

"I see. Good. I take it those two are not causing you any trouble?" Yuriko speaks up.

I turn to stare at the driver as he glances at me...

"...We are doing just fine." I answered, as I could see the driver giving off a huge sigh...

"Alright, good… Once you arrive there, inform me" And with that the radio goes silent.

"Well, and that's that, how much longer until we reach my stop?" I ask as I turn my head and look out of the jeep.

"Five minutes? Three? Not much longer is where it's at." The guy on the passenger seat speaks up.

"Aright, thanks." I answer.

(Saya's dad better still be alive, or we will have to deal with some major frigging problems.)

As we kept heading further away from the estate, I could slowly see more and more corpses start popping up.

(You know. In the anime Takashi and Saeko split up from the rest of the group right before the estate. Something that obviously did not happen because I used that flashbang. I would like to say that this is proof that things can change. But, I haven't really changed anything yet.

There is still the fact that in the manga these two split after the estate. And as the anime ends right after the estate, there is still a chance things might just go on as they did in the manga…

Uhh, matter not right now. What matters is finding Saya's scary-ass dad. And more importantly, making sure Saya's house won't fall.)


	16. Electrifying

"This is as far as we can take you. The engine will attract the ones wandering around here, so you might want to go to a safer location before you radio in with miss Takagi." The driver closes the car's door as he finishes speaking. I nod and turn around.

The sound of the jeep's engine echoes behind me as the car drives off, heading back towards its usual patrol route probably. I take a deep breath and look around me, at the corpses that were now walking towards me, attracted to the sound of the engine that was here a couple of seconds ago.

(Yeah, better move out.)

I jerk my shoulders and do a couple of jumps in place to limber up. Cramps kill after all… quite literally in this case.

(First, get away from here. Second, radio in with Yuriko. Third, don't get bit. Alright me, let's do this.)

I narrow my eyes and focus ahead of me.

(While there are a couple of corpses that are heading towards my direction, the road ahead only has a small group of three 'blocking' my way, and the road along the pavement is wide enough for me to just walk around them. And now that I'm alone again, I can actually be stealthy. A 'Must be' too, as fighting is not a good idea right now, because the only close-range weapon I got is a combat knife. And the gun, but it's better to hold on to it in case things get bad.)

With that, I silently move down the street, strafing around the corpses that were shambling towards the opposite direction.

(Still, it's weird how there are no crashed or abandoned cars around here. Did Souichiro's men clear them out? Hmm, seems unlikely, they would have needed some heavy machinery to do that. And that stuff is usually too slow to move around. So, back at the task at hand, what can I use as a vantage point? This place has no cars for me to climb, and I'm not going to use a house fence as higher ground…)

I glance around me as I keep walking

(Actually, speaking about that. I expected the location to look more industrial as the power plant is supposed to be near, yet I still see houses around. Maybe I'm not that close? I expected the location around the powerplant to be quite empty.)

I then checked the clothes the corpses wore as I walked past them.

(None of these guys are dressed like industrial workers either.)

After walking past the initial group of corpses, I looked down the street ahead of me.

(And if the facility was overrun by a horde, then why are there corpses shambling about. No that's, a stupid question. Maybe these ones arrived later, or they got stuck to a wall or something. Maybe the horde didn't come from this way to begin with.)

Looking ahead I could also see an intersection in the distance.

(Ok let's head there first, then figure out what to do. The road is relatively clear so I should reach it without meeting much of a resistance.)

With that, I stay in the middle of the road and start walking towards the intersection.

(This is the first time since my romp in the school that I'm actually alone again huh. I just had to pull the short end of the stick. Damn it Shido, I could have used the free time in the estate to get closer to the group, like asking Saeko to train with me. But noooo, motherfucking Shido must pop up out of nowhere and fuck shit up. I should have tossed his stupid ass to a group of corpses and let him get chewed up back at the bus, damn the consequence. Now I'm stuck here because of him while Takashi is doing God knows what...)

I shake my head and look around me.

(Uhh, I will worry about Takashi and the girls later. Got to keep focused on my surroundings before I end up bumping into something.)

With that, I stop myself from getting distracted and keep the focus on the corpses that were shambling about on the road. Upon reaching the intersection a couple of minutes later, I stop at the middle and look at the three diverging paths.

(Let's see… if I go straight, houses as far as the eye can see. To my right, I can see an increase in housing on a downhill road. To my left, I can actually see the opposite, the houses are exchanged for tree patches and small fields, with the road going uphill. Also, are those two giant chimneys in the distance? Yeah, this is definitely my road. And if I can see the chimneys from here, I mustn't be too far away after all.)

I turn to the left and start walking up the road while taking the radio out of my pocket and pushing the talk button.

(Can't find any safe location, so I might as well make the call now.)

"Miss Takagi, sorry for the delay, I had to find a clear spot to call. I'm on foot and heading up an uphill road that seems to lead to the powerplant. Over." I say in a low tone as I keep walking.

"It's alright, the guards should have left you on a road that leads to the powerplant as long as you turn north on the first intersection. Over" Yuriko answers back.

"Hmm, so I'm heading north. Speaking of, where is my compass? It was not in the bag. Over" I answer back as I keep walking up the road.

"Compass? There was no compass in the bag when they brought it to me. Over." Yuriko answers.

(Somebody has sticky fingers apparently...)

"Never mind then, no point dwelling on it now. So I'm heading north, would that mean that I will end up in the south part of the facility? Over." I ask.

"Yes. If you head straight after taking the north turn you will end up on the south part of the power plant. I know I've said it before, but the facility is overrun, so be..."

"Careful I know..." I cut her off.

"Don't worry, if I didn't feel like I could handle it, I wouldn't have asked you to send me here in the first place. Over." After I finished talking, the radio stayed silent for a couple of seconds.

"Heh, then good luck. If anything comes up, talk to me. I will keep the radio silent so I don't accidentally end up attracting any infected to you. Over."

And the radio goes silent once more. I put it back into the side pocket on my pants and keep a steady pace forward…

As I kept moving up the hill, the houses were becoming sparser and sparser, until finally, the only thing besides the road were trees and empty fields. The street itself was clear of corpses, other than the occasional shambler that was strolling to hell knows where. I could see more corpses standing still on the fields though.

(Let's hope they stay there pretending to be trees.)

I turned my attention back to the road, and looked at the two giant chimneys. I expected to see an increase in corpses as I got closer, yet, I saw no such thing. The road stayed as empty as ever.

(I don't like this. For a road leading to what's supposed to be an infested building. It's almost clear of corpses.)

I quickened my pace, trying to reach the power plant a little faster. And after climbing the uphill slope, I finally saw it.

"Well...fuck me..." I growl under my breath as I look at the power station that was below me. Or more exactly, at the fence surrounding the power station. The reason why the roads were almost free of corpses, was pretty simple to figure out now. The fence around the power plant was holding all the corpses inside the complex. The same complex that I needed to get into and search for someone.

(At least, I got a good view of the facility from up here.)

I scratch the back of my head as I keep looking at the power station, trying to figure out how I would be getting inside without leaving several parts of me as a sacrifice.

(I'm going to need a tank, a flamethrower and a flying bike with twenty rockets... Ughhh...)

I looked around me to make sure I didn't have any corpses creeping up on me, then kneeled down and turned my sight back towards the facility.

(Going straight ahead through the south side of the complex, is a no go. Jumping over the fence would be instant suicide, the other side has a giant ass horde packed all together, no way I'm getting passed that. The sides of the fence look clearer though, so I could hypothetically walk around the whole facility to find an opening. Or, I could create a diversion. If these things are that good at hearing things. I could draw a lot of them to one side of the facility by making a racket next to the fence...)

I started planning as I looked at the fence, following its path with my sight.

(The fence also seems to enclose the facility. Gives the feeling of a private facility to be honest. And as Yuriko said, there's the one main building. It looks like a capital 'L' with the longer part of the structure extending from the west to the east. I suspect that the north fence must be on the back of that building. The two chimneys are also next to that building, towards my right.

The warehouse is closer to me and to my left, so southwest of the main building. The western fence should be behind it, but I can't see it right now. And then there are a bunch of, metal structures? to the east. I have no freaking idea what they are for, but I can see a lot of pipes running among them. There is also a giant silo on the far end, right next to the main building. So I guess, the eastern fence ends around there...

Yuriko told me to look for Souichirou at the main building and the warehouse. Now, the warehouse is currently in the spot where the horde has gathered at. Also worth mentioning is that the horde is not spread out all over the facility, it's actually gathered near the warehouse. So, something made them move to that one spot? Hmm, there's guess one way to find out. Time to move out.)

I get up and start moving down the hill, towards the facility.

(I will circle around the fence and check for an opening.)

It didn't take too long for me to reach the fence after I started walking. And so, here I was, standing a few meters away from a moaning horde, separated only by a tall wire fence. I sigh and look at the sky.

(At least I still got time before it gets dark. It must be what, three pm right now? So I guess I'll check the left side first, as the warehouse is that way.)

With that, I start heading to the left, walking along the fence in silence. I kept looking at the warehouse as I walked, and noticed that it has some sort of concrete building next to it, or behind it, if we take it from where I'm looking.

(The shutters are down, so that's a point for survivors possibly being there. There's a good chance a group could survive by barricading themselves, it has not been compromised.)

I kept walking until the western fence slowly came into view. And once I had a clear view of the western fence, I saw what was probably the horde's 'entrance' point.

(That's, one big hole alright.)

Most of the west fence had been toppled over.

(So the horde came from the west or the northwest.)

There was also a steep increase in the number of corpses on this side, both inside the facility and outside.

(Yeaa… definitely not this way.)

I turned around and quickly started walking in the opposite direction.

(Hope the horde came only from one direction, If the eastern side is like this too… ugh.)

I backtrack all the way until I reach my starting point, and then start heading towards the east end of the fence.

(The structures over this side are also blocking my view. Got to keep me on the edge till the very last minute huh...)

This time around, it was a much longer walk to see whether or not the eastern end of the fence is safe, as I had to walk all the way to the end of the fence because my view was blocked by the metallic contraptions. When I finally reached said end, I took a left turn and looked at the eastern fence.

(...clear)

I breathe a sigh of relief.

(Guess I'm going this way then.)

I think as I start walking down the eastern fence.

(Compared to the southern fence, this side is way longer. But as it also covers the silo at the far end. Any entry point I should be able to find should be before that silo.)

This side of the fence was, thankfully, free of corpses. At least when compared to the west and southern side.

(Guess nobody tried to run this way huh...)

I kept walking next to the fence until finally, I saw a good location to jump inside.

(An open space, looks like it leads to a road inside the facility. Better than jumping in and being surrounded by metal walls and machinery I guess. I don't know if any of them are still active or dangerous in any way, plus tight spaces and possible dead ends… Yeah. That's a very cliche way to die.)

I make up my mind and take a few steps back, moving away from the fence. Then with a short sprint, run-up to it. And using the momentum I climb up. After my upper body was over the top of the fence, I pushed my legs to the side and vault over it. Landing with a soft thump, my face looking at the fence

(Why am I getting a feeling of deja vu right now?)

I turn around and look at the road that started a few meters away from me.

(The road would probably lead me to the main building if I walk along it. And since that's my destination...)

Destination decided, I carefully searched my backpack to grab the combat knife. Better safe than sorry after all, as shooting a gun here could end very bad for me.

(Not raring to jump into a fight with a corpse, but it's infinitely better than going in barehanded. Hisashi can vouch on that.)

Knife in hand, I silently move to the center of the deserted road.

(Let's see… the main building is straight ahead as I jumped in near the end of the east fence. The warehouse with the massive horde of corpses is probably far off to my left. I say 'probably' as at the moment my vision of it is blocked by all the metallic structures. So if I go straight, I will end up at the main building…)

With that, I start moving down the road. Thankfully as the road itself was rather wide and, other than the structures on my left, the right side looked like a giant concrete field that led straight to the main building. Probably a parking lot for big rigs or something. Meaning I had more than enough space to move around the few roaming corpses there are.

(It is weird though, for all the corpses roaming about, I don't see any blood on the floor, or any half-eaten carcasses. And so far, all the corpses look like normal civilians or factory workers. None of them look like the people from Souichiro's group, as all of them wore that white school uniform knock-off, or was it a military uniform knock-off? No idea what the group's engineers would wear though.)

As I kept moving down the road, I could also see several black objects near the main building.

(Hmm, Cars. In the anime, Souichiro did return to the estate in a black jeep after all.)

And as the road was slowly getting a bit 'too' populated for my liking, I turned to the right and headed towards the giant concrete field.

(This place makes me want to sprint for some reason...)

I shake my head and keep moving forward steadily. And as I got near the main building, I saw the first signs of a struggle. A dead-dead body, or what remained of it at least, with several corpses surrounding it. The whole thing was a good distance away from the cars and entrance, so it would not really obstruct me in any way.

(Still, I wonder.)

I stop a couple of meters away from the corpses that surrounded the body. The feast they just had still visible on their bloody rotting faces...

(The body does look like one of Souichiro's men. These guys, they should have been armed, right?)

I squint my eyes, trying to get a better look while lifting my mask.

(Can't see any weapons on his body, could be under it. Still, trying to get there to look would be impossible without me bumping into a corpse. It's a shame, but I'm not risking it.)

I pull my mask down and keep moving towards the main entrance. Only to come to a full stop shortly after...

(Well, I should have expected this. But, uhh...crap.)

The entrance was blocked off with corpses, creating a wall of bodies before the front door. Not 'too' many of them to be clearly visible from a distance, but enough to actually pose a problem...

(How the hell do I get inside? A window? If they are locked, I will end up making too much noise in order to smash them. Not something I want to do with all of these creeps standing next to the entrance. I could look around the building and enter it from a window that is away from the group. Hmm, the front door still looks closed from what I can see, so there's a chance that the interior of the building is still clear. But before that...)

I decided to check the vehicles first. The area around them was also relatively clear, with only a couple of corpses flocking around a big semi-truck that was parked among the vehicles. I moved towards a jeep that had no corpses surrounding it, in order to get a better look.

(The windows are tinted black, I can't see frigging crap. )

I move to the driver's door and grab the handle.

(Heh. Yeah, as if it would be that easy...)

I think as I pull the handle on the door. Only to find that the car was indeed unlocked.

(Well… holy shit.)

I continue to open the door while moving to the side, using the door as cover. With nothing suddenly leaping out of the car, I then took a peek inside.

(Looks empty.)

I proceed to do the same with the back seat door.

(Empty as well.)

I silently closed the back seat door and then went back to the front. I then enter the jeep's driver seat while leaving the door open.

(Let's see, what might we have in here.)

I open the passenger's glove box, then look around the seats and floor.

(Nothing, nothing…and…nothing, huh. Well, this was underwhelming.)

I was about to exit the car, when my sight got caught by something that was hanging behind the steering wheel...

(You… you've gotta be kidding me.)

The keys were still in the ignition switch.

(Either they are really forgetful or they left in a big fucking hurry. In either case, if this ain't a lucky break then I don't know what is.)

I smirk as I pull out the keys...

(Just in case.)

I exit the jeep, silently closing the door behind me as I look at the corpses that were still blocking the entrance to the main building. I stand there, jiggling the car keys for a few seconds, before turning to look back at the car.

(I must be crazy… )

I open the door once more, enter the car, then close the door. This time with a loud thud. I put the keys in the ignition and turn them...

The engine comes alive with a roar. I then rev the engine, and press on the horn, hard.

(This should do it.)

I dart my head around to see the corpses in the surrounding area turning towards the car. Including the ones that were at the door.

(Well that did the trick. But now I really don't want to be here.)

I turn my sight to the gearbox as I move to turn the car to reverse.

(Ohh, it's an automatic?)

I remarked as I moved the gear stick to reverse, turning the car around while in reverse, and then change the lever to 'D' as I press on the pedal again.

(Now, where do I stop?)

My sight stops at the toppled fence at the far west.

(...)

I keep staring at the fence before steering the car towards it.

(And I just had, a very stupid idea...)

I press on the pedal harder as the car increases its speed. Before long, it went over the toppled western fence, and kept moving outside to the grassy fields. Whatever corpse was in front of me. Well.. .too bad for them. Once outside, I steer to the left and speed down the field, the toppled fence next to me to my left.

If I said I tried to avoid the corpses that were on my way, then I would be lying. The ones that were sent flying left and right being the proof of it. And once I reached the end of the fence, I pressed on the brakes and turned to the left. I then drove forward again until I reached the same location where I was when I first got here. The center of the southern fence. I turn the car to face the fence before stopping completely.

(Now, I need something long and hard… err. That sounded wrong...)

I shake my head and exit the car.

(A tree branch would do. But let's check the trunk first)

I move to the back of the jeep and open the trunk.

(Empty, go figure. Tree branch it is then.)

I close the trunk and look around.

(Fields, fields and more fields. Where's a tree when you need it? Hmm I think, I saw some trees on the top of the hill where I came from.)

With that, I start running up the hill. Upon reaching the top, I look at the trees that were around me.

(Well, there are trees here. But, ughh… the branches are too high up, I need to climb up the trees to even reach a branch that might do. And considering that all I have is a combat knife, cutting a live branch while hanging on a tree will take forever. So, time for plan B)

I turn around, run back to the car and enter it...

(And by plan B. I mean that it is time to do something very fucking stupid… again.)

I start backing the jeep away from the fence to enact my plan. Upon gaining some distance, I punch the horn, and keep my hand on it for a good long while. The corpses behind the fence, stopped shuffling around, And all turned to 'look' at me...

"Yep, definitely a good idea. This ain't creepy at all..."

And then, the fence starts rattling. The corpses pushing up against each other as they try to move towards the car, causing the fence to start swaying as they grind against it.

(I wonder if the tree wannabe corpses back in the fields can hear this. Ohh who am I kidding, of course they can.)

I keep pressing on the horn as the fence keeps shaking more violently by the second. Until, with a loud crash, the fence goes down, along with a crap-load of corpses behind it. I move the lever in reverse and press on the pedal.

(To think they can overpower a fence this fast...)

The horde, now free from the confines of the fence, starts spreading outside like a flood. With most of them walking towards the jeep.

(And yeah, I'm outta here.)

I change the lever to 'D' and stomp on the pedal. The wheels screech before the jeep starts picking up speed. I let go of the horn and turn to the left, driving in a straight line until I was away from the incoming horde.

I then steer the jeep closer to the fence and keep driving in a straight line. Once I reached the end of the fence, I turned to the right and started going straight again. As I passed the warehouse, I shut down the engine to silence the car and let it roll forward with the momentum it still had. I glanced around at the corpses that were bumping into everything as they tried to head off towards the south fence as the car kept rolling.

(All that noise is making them go nuts.)

I pass the warehouse and stop a little bit further down, next to the downed fence.

(Hope the sound of the engine did not make too many of them change direction. I actually wanted to leave the car behind with the horn acting as a decoy. But climbing like a monkey to cut a tree branch yeah, no.)

With the coast clear, I look outside before exiting the car. Then turn around and walk towards the warehouse. The corpses that were around here were all 'focused' on going towards the southern fence, so the once 'death trap' was now a breeze to walk through.

Several meters later, I turn left and go over the fallen western fence, which was now much clearer from corpses.

Soon, I reached the back wall of the warehouse to my right, and a concrete wall to my left.

(Wonder what that left building is for, parking lot? Thing has no ceiling.)

I then keep going straight in an alleyway, between the warehouse and the wall, towards the street that was ahead of me. Only to come to a full stop before reaching the end, as I saw what somebody would call a parade, marching down the street.

(It seems I attracted more than just the horde that was at the warehouse. Hope their attention span lasts long enough that they don't end up stopping next to the warehouse.)

With that, I silently move to the nearby wall to my left, and kneel down.

(Now, we wait.)

With nothing else to do, I look at the knife in my hand.

(Got to find a sheath for you soon. Driving with you in my hand was a pain in the ass.)

I look back at the 'parade' that was moving down the street, towards the southern fence.

(Uhh… I wish the group was here with me. Then again, it's safer in the estate. Even with Shido in there. Wonder what they're doing right now. I could ask Yuriko, nahh. No, she already has her plate full dealing with Shido, I shouldn't bother her with trivial stuff like this. But, I do worry about Saeko's mental state.

Normally, in the original timeline, Saeko and Takashi would have split up from the group at noon today. The event would then lead to them 'sleeping' at the shrine tonight. Cue cinematic fighting scene where Takashi ends up 'persuading' Saeko to make her fight, leading to the 'confession'.

Yet, we got to the estate way earlier, and the way it's going. The split might not happen at all, as my actions already changed how the anime would go, by making the whole group go to the mansion together...

And if the house won't fall, then the dynamites won't be used, so there won't be any loud noise to cause corpses to block off the road. Meaning that the second time when the split normally happens, aka in the manga, won't happen either, and Saeko won't have her 'moment'. And if she keeps that all stuff bottled up inside her. Well, she did say it herself in the anime, she might get out of control, and possibly turn on us.

And I can't just go to her and be all 'Hur durr, tell me how you like beating the shit out of people and believe you are not worthy of positive human feelings so I can tell you that I care'. Even if I do care. She needs to be the one to start that conversation. Problem is, with who she will start it with. Though realistically speaking, that last part is just 'my' problem.

Then, we have Kohta's mental breakdown. In the manga it had a lot to do with that cop that kept speaking in the third person from the mall. What was her name again? Asuzu? Azuzu? Azamu? Uhh… asu… asa… mi? Right… I think it was Asami. He ends up falling for her, and she did like him as well. Which makes it even worse, as he had to shoot her in the head not long after. If I could avoid her death, no. After I make sure that she won't get killed, Kohta will be much better mentally.

Takashi mentally is, fine? Plot shield and stuff. Yeah, jokes aside. He also finally has Rei, so that gives him a reason to keep his shit together.

Saya already had a mental breakdown once. But so far, she seems to be the type that bounces back stronger.

Rei is probably going to be fine as long Takashi is around…

And then, there is me. And that is a good question. What about me? I feel fine. But, you can't ask a lunatic if he is crazy and expect the correct answer. I don't feel the need to mutilate corpses for the fun of it. So I'm not THAT crazy at least. But I do want to kick Shido into a group of corpses and watch as he screams while he watches his own guts leaving his stomach.)

I shake my head and look at the road again. Most of the horde was gone, meaning I could go towards the front gate of the warehouse now.

(Whatever, more stuff to worry about for later, time to go.)

I get up and walk towards the street, then take a right turn and walk down the side of the road, to end up next to the front door of the warehouse.

(No blood or bodies near the door. That's good.)

I then try to open the warehouse's door.

(Hmm, it is not locked. But something is preventing it from being opened. A barricade perhaps?)

I stand in front of the door, and stare at it.

(Well, I'm out of ideas now. The warehouse's walls are made out of cement. So driving into it with the jeep ain't gonna cut it. C'mon think, think.)

I hit my head on the door and turned around.

(At least it's still clear of corpses.)

I walked towards the shutters and gave them a light knock.

(Metal, I wonder if there is any button to open them from the outside.)

I start looking around the door to see if there's a button somewhere, but find nothing.

(Ughh, for fuck's sake.)

I lean back against the shutters.

(I did all this crap and now I'm stuck on the last straight. What a load of bull, I didn't see any type of ladder or catwalk around the warehouse either, and the windows are too high. So, how the fuck am I getting inside?

I could drive the car into the shutters. Nahh, retarded idea, that might wreck the car if I'm lucky, or just kill me outright if I'm not. Plus I will just attract the horde back here. Hmm...)

I take the radio out of my side pocket and press the talk button.

"Uhh, Miss Takagi, I might need some help over here. Over." I let go of the button and wait for an answer. But I got nothing.

"Miss Takagi?" Again, nothing.

(She is probably busy.)

Just as I was about to put the radio back in my pocket...

"IDIOT!?" The radio goes live and a different female voice comes alive..

(You… gotta be joking.)

I quickly cover the radio and look around for any corpses that might have heard the shout.

"For the love of God, don't shout, you're going to get me killed." I say as calmly as I can to the radio as I look around.

(No corpses. Ughh there goes two years of my life.)

"Umm sorry about that." A different female voice answers, probably Yuriko.

"Uhh, yeah. Cat's out the bag?" I ask as I keep a looking round me.

"Heh… I guess it is…" I hear the same voice respond.

"...Mama this ain't funny! what is going on here!" A different voice shouts from over the radio.

(God, I can hear her shouting from over the radio…)

Deciding it was too risky to sit here while Saya was going off like a siren on the walky-talky I walked back to the car. Once there, I got inside and closed the door, making sure all the windows were also closed in hopes to mask some of the noise. And well, having a giant metal bucket between me and the hungry dead does count for something.

"Umm...Naier?" The radio goes live again a couple of minutes later.

"Still here. So, what the hell? " I answer back.

"Uhh. I left the radio on the table and forgot to switch it off while Saya was in the room. Then… " The voice in the radio speaks up...

"Yea. I get the rest. Did you tell her anything? About her father? About Shido? About uhh, me? Over." I replied.

"No, she bolted out of the room. She said she's bringing the others." Yuriko answers.

"So much for being stealthy. Hope she won't go off shouting it for all to hear in the estate." I answer back.

"So, how...is the situation there? You did try to call me." Yuriko speaks up.

"Ohh right, so. There was a horde in the southeastern part of the facility, surrounding the warehouse. The main building also had a small group of walking corpses blocking the front door, but the door itself was closed, so they might just be on the outside. Didn't manage to get a better look at it yet though. Anyway, I managed to get both the horde and the group away from the structures. But uhhh, well. I hit a little..." I ended up stalling as I glanced outside.

"Did something happen? Are you alright?" Yuriko butts in.

"What, no, no I'm fine. It's just that, I can't get into the warehouse now..." I finish my sentence and hear Yuriko sigh. She sounded, relieved?

"The door is blocked from the inside. Seems like somebody locked themselves in there after attracting the horde. But thanks to that I can't get inside. The shutters are down, the windows are too high, and the door is blocked. Moreso, the walls are made of concrete. If they were made out of a more fragile material I could just drive the ca… uhh… actually, never mind the last part." I stop mid-sentence, realizing just how stupid that was.

"Naier, for crying out loud, I told you to..."

"Be careful… I know. But I'm running out of ideas here, that's why I called you before ramming any car into any wall… " I cut her off mid-sentence.

"God, Just. Just let me do the talking after your group gets here… alright?" Yuriko speaks up.

"Alright..." I answer as I scan the location around the car again by looking outside the windows.

(Still clear.)

And with that, a couple of minutes pass. Until..

"Naier, they're here. They want to speak to you. " The radio goes live again as I hear Yuriko's voice.

"Hhm." I answer back. And almost instantly I lean away from the walky-talky.

"Alright, idiot! Explanation, now! What is going on here!? Where are you!?" I heard an angry voice shout. Aka, Saya.

"Uhh. Your mother can explain?" I say as I look out of the window. The radio then goes silent again...

(And the whole thing went to shit, ughhh)

"Naier?" A completely new voice comes alive on the radio after a couple of minutes.

(Saeko? Well it is either her, or Rei...)

"I'm listening." I answer.

"Is it true? About Shido trying to frame you? And about you heading off to an overrun power-plant by yourself?" The voice speaks up again.

"Yes and no. It was not, overrun per se, just a small group."

(Yep that's a lie, but they sound pissed enough as it is..)

I answer, and hear a sigh over the radio.

"Why didn't you tell us anything? We are supposed to be a team. Don't you care how others might feel if something happened to you?" The voice, that I'm now pretty sure is Saeko, answers back at me.

(Not being fair is she?)

"And what you would do if you knew? The rest of our group would still have to stay back in the estate. If Shido, or the men with Shido, saw the whole group missing. Everybody would start poking their noses in places they shouldn't." I answer back.

The radio stays silent...

(This will be cheesy as fuck. But uhh, I can't figure a better way to say it and I'm short on time. So yeah, it's cringe time.)

"You guys, are all I got left. Everybody I knew is either dead, or on the other side of the globe. I didn't do this because I didn't care. Telling you all about it while you would still have to stay behind, would not have had any positive effects in the end." I say as I stare at the knife in my hand. And a couple of seconds later...

"We will talk about this, after you come back here. So you better come back, alive..." Saeko answers back.

"Agreed..."


	17. Electrifying Pt2

"So, uhh. Do you by any chance know how to break into a warehouse? Over." I ask after a short silence.

"Uh. Know how to do, what?" Was the answer Saeko gave me.

"Well, you see. There's this warehouse, and it's locked, and I need to get inside. But the door is blocked off, the windows are too high, and the shutters are down. I also can't make too much noise as I got 'unwanted guests' roaming about. Over." I explained my problem to Saeko. And a couple of minutes later, I got an answer.

"Hmm... can't say I can think of anything. Sorry..." A negative one that is.

"Maybe Takagi can think of something? Over." I turn my head towards the window next to me as I speak.

"Takagi? Umm, There are two Takagi's in the room right now Naier. Could you be more specific?" I hear her ask.

(Ohh right. Of course, uh, why do I suddenly feel like Saya is glaring at the radio right now?)

"The one that is probably glaring towards your direction? Over." I could hear Saeko trying to hold back a giggle as I finished my sentence, the radio then went silent. Only for a few seconds later...

"Huh? What did you tell her idiot, why is she giggling? Uhh, Over." Saeko's voice gets replaced by an annoyed one.

(Bullsfucking eye.)

"Hmm? I just asked her to give the radio to the person who looked the most grumpy in the room. Over." I answer casually.

"...What?! You are a goddamn Idiot! You know that!?" Saya comes back with an oh-so original statement.

"Well, I have you to keep reminding me of that, don't I?" All I got as an answer, was a 'HUM'. I could actually feel the tsundere-ism from all over the radio to be honest.

"So, what do you want?" Saya asks, sending the conversation back towards its main point.

(Uhh, doesn't this thing have a loudspeaker or something?)

I sigh under my breath as I explain to Saya about the warehouse...again.

"Did you try forcing the door open? You, you do have a weapon with you right?" Saya asks.

"No can do, the noise will probably cause the corpses around here to surround the area again. I'm not going to risk getting stuck in there with corpses blocking the only exit. And uhhh, all I got is a handgun, not enough to blast open a door. Over." The response I got, was an annoyed sigh.

"Ugh. Why do you even need to get in there? Actually, why did you even agree to go to that place in the first place? Over." Saya asks again.

"Huh, what'd ya mean? Didn't your mother explain that? Over."

"She said that you're going to make the power plant safe for the engineers to go and take over, so that the people would get a more positive view of you by helping the 'community'. Over." I could feel some obvious sarcasm seeping out from Saya's tone on the word 'community'.

(Yuriko lied to her? Saya doesn't know why I'm really here for? Ughh, goddamnit Yuriko, you have to warn me if you're going to pull stunts like these. I could have easily said something wrong and without even realizing it, blow the whole thing apart...)

"Uhhh...yeah. I just figured that the warehouse might have something I could use… you know, stuff… " I quickly made up an excuse, a pretty lame one too, as I heard Saya groan over the radio as a response.

"You. You really are an idiot. You should just focus on what you need to do and come back, needless side trips like these can get you killed. Over." Saya was actually speaking rather calmly now. I on the other hand...

"Y, yea, sorry. I, I didn't think you'd be, that worried about me..." Was trying to hold myself back from snickering.

"W.. wha.. I, I'm not worried about you! Who said that I was worried about you!" I hear a flustered shout from over the radio.

(Heh, why is poking the pinkette so much fun?)

"You did." I answer bluntly.

"I did not!... MAMA! STOP, GIGGLING! UGHH... I'm surrounded by IDIOTS!" The radio then abruptly gets cuts off.

(Saya needs to understand that as long she reacts like this, she will be too fun not to mess with. Anyway, I needed that little break from all the corpses, running and bullcrap I had to deal with ever since saving Alice. I guess I owe one to Saya now for lightening up the mood. She does not need to know that though. And I hope Kohta is not TOO pissed at me right now.)

"You sure seem to know which buttons to push to make my daughter fly off the handle, don't you? Over." The radio comes alive once again.

"Umm. Well, isn't it just that Saya just flips out at the drop of a hat?" I answer back at Yuriko, who was now back on the line.

"So, I am to make the powerplant safe? Over." My tone, probably sounded slightly sarcastic as I spoke.

"Yes, so focus on going back to the main building." Yuriko just kept on with the story, so I guess Saya did not bolt out of the room. Or if she did, the others were still there. Not that it's a bad plan, I need to check the main building anyway. And who knows, maybe Souichirou is there and I don't have to deal with the warehouse at all.

"Roger that, main building it is. Over and out." I shove the radio back inside my side pocket and look around one last time, before turning the engine back on.

(Alright, time to focus back on the task at hand. For starters, I'll drive towards the main building, then shut down the engine mid-way as I did before, then see how to act from there.)

And with that, I step on the pedal, and start driving towards the main building.

(Hmm, did I ever mention to the group that I can drive? I don't think I did. Ohh well. Whatever.)

After the fallen part in the fence where I drove the car over came into view, I shut down the engine once again. And after reaching the opening, I turn to the right, climbing over the toppled west fence. Shortly after, the front entrance of the main building, along with the other vehicles came into view. With no corpses around this time.

(Well looks like leaving with the jeep was the best decision after all. I don't see that group of corpses that blocked off the door anywhere. Could it be that the group of corpses I saw 'parading' down the street earlier was the same group flocking the entrance? Well no matter, all the better for me. This place seems to be empty, so I can move more freely now.)

I let the car roll to a stop near the rest of the vehicles, then take the keys out of the ignition and put them into my pocket before I exit the vehicle and silently close the door behind me.

(Alright, let's get this over with.)

I nod to myself and slowly start walking towards the main door of the building…

Upon reaching the door I stopped in front of it and took a closer look at it.

(The door is made out of the hell did it survive a mini horde banging on it? No, wait, there are a couple of cracks on it. Huh, glad I lured them away before they could get in.)

I then give the door a tug.

(Locked, figures.)

I then look through the glass, at the building's main hallway. The sight, was not very uplifting.

Corpses were roaming the inside of the building, some of them looked like Souichiro's men too. The silver lining was that the stairs on the far end ahead of me, that led to the second floor, were barricaded. So there could be survivors up there, and hopefully Souichirou too.

(Well shit. That's not a good way to start off is it?)

But there was also something else that caught my eye. A metal piece of equipment dangling on the side of one of Souichiro's men.

(Is that a Howa Type 89? Well now I REALLY need to get in there… )

I looked around me to see if there was another way inside. Spotting a window, I started moving towards it. And once there I give it a push, then try to pull it, and finally try to push it to the side.

(Nope, no good.)

I back off the window and look for another way again. To my left, I could see part of the structure that extended towards the south. Yet, none of the visible windows looked open from where I was standing.

(I'll go on a limb and say that all the windows are shut tight. God, I should have invested in lockpicking. I could look around the building, but I don't know how good of an idea that is. Especially if the back of the building has corpses that got stuck there after being attracted by the car horn...)

I then look up at the second floor. The windows up there were either shaded, or the sun reflected in such an angle that did not let me see the insides, and again...

(All of em are closed. So, time for plan B)

I 'sheath' the knife by passing the blade under the belt that had the gun holster on, then pull out the gun itself.

(And as with all my plan B's. Tis a stupid as fuck plan.)

I grumbled as I pointed the gun at the window. But, right as I was about to pull the trigger, a plan came to me.

(Hmm, if I'm going in loud and stupid, I could make use of it.)

I lower the gun and run back to the door.

(Let's see. The main hallway is rather spacious, it looks as large as the school's entrance without all the lockers. It also has… five corpses roaming about, along with a couple of bodies on the floor near to the main door. No idea if they're really 'dead' though.

Two of 'em are to the left, next to an entrance to a hallway that leads to the other parts of the structure. One is to the far right, next to a door that probably leads to a room. The one with the gun is by the stairs. And uh, there is one in front of the main door 'staring' at me. Other than the two corpses that are huddled together to the left, the others are by themselves. So, how do I go about this?

Going from the main door is stupid. Corpse standing next to the door aside, too many bodies on the floor. I could enter by smashing a window either to the left or the right. The left has an extra corpse so, to the right it is.)

With that, I nod to myself and move to the second window to the right, point my gun towards the window, and pull the trigger three times.

The glass window, being a single-pane commercial glass, didn't hold much against the gun after getting shot at point-blank. The first shot made a clean hole with a couple of cracks surrounding it. The second shot landed on the cracks created by the first shot, causing the cracks to spread out even further. And the third shot finally caused the glass to partially shatter.

Using the grip of the gun, I then started bashing the rest of the glass, causing it to give way until the hole was big enough for me to pass through. Before going inside though, I headed back to the main door and aimed the gun again. This time at the corpse with the Type 89. I fired a single shot that pierced right through the glass of the front door. And landed straight into the corpse's face.

The corpse stumbled backward a couple of steps before falling back against the barricade on the stairs. I then walked back to the window, took off my bag and used it as a cushion in order to climb over the shattered window.

(Just to make sure I don't end up cutting myself with the glass fragments. Survive zombie outbreak, die from cut infection.)

As the fourth shot was from the main door, the corpses were now heading towards that spot, ignoring the shattered window.

I climb over and land on the other side, the glass cracking under my boots as I hit the ground.

I turned my sight to the left looking at the three corpses that upon hearing the cracking glass, turned to me. Then look ahead of me at the fourth corpse that had long left the door by the corner and was also walking towards me.

(Ughh, of course they had to hear this.)

I grab the bag and throw it ahead and towards the right, next to the corpse that was straight ahead of me, then run past it from the left, and head straight to the corpse with the assault rifle that had fallen against the barricade. The moment I get next to it, I point the gun to its face.

(Better safe than sorry...)

The corpse's head jerks to the side as another round goes through its head. I then kneel down and shove my gun in its holster before taking the assault rifle off the dead corpse. The moment I managed to get the gun in my hands, I took off the magazine and looked inside.

(Still has bullets.)

I quickly shove the magazine back inside and pull the charging handle back causing a single bullet to fly out of the ejection port.

(It had a bullet in the chamber?)

I let go of the charging handle, and the handle traveled all the way to its initial position, signaling that the gun had a new bullet in the chamber.I then turned around, assault rifle in my hands, staring at the four remaining corpses...

(This is probably one of the most stupid ideas I had, so far...)

I lift the gun and aim it at the corpse that I just ran past, as it was getting a bit 'too' close to my comfort zone. I then switched the rifle to semi-auto and aimed at the corpse's head.

The moment I pulled the trigger, I could feel the difference in power compared to the peashooter I was using some time ago, as I could feel the gun's recoil pushing against my shoulder. Thankfully, all the 'fun' training I had before the outbreak let me hold the muzzle relatively steady. And with a loud 'Crack', the bullet pierced the corpse's head and went on flying behind it, embedding itself into the wall behind the corpse. I then turn my sight to the entrance and at the three last corpses that were shambling towards me. I look down the sights once more and take a deep breath. Three more shots, three more corpses down to the floor, never to get up again.

I take my eyes off the sights and look at the corpses, resting the gun's stock on the side of my hip.

(I just rang the dinner bell for every corpse in the vicinity, didn't I? Weird as it was though, I didn't see any other corpses roaming towards me from the hallways. Locked in some room perhaps?)

I move to where my bag was and pick it up. I then kneel down and pick it up. Yet, before I could turn around...

"Don't move!" I hear a voice shout, causing me to freeze in place and look around.

(Behind me, on the stairs.)

I turned my head to see a guy dressed in the outfit Souichiro's men wore. Standing over the barricade, a Type 89 in his hands, aimed straight at me.

"I uhh, come in peace?... " I say as I keep my finger off the trigger while lifting the hand that held the bag.

"Sure you do, by attracting every single monster here! Drop the gun, hands in the air! Now!" The guard shouts, if my gunshots didn't attract corpses, his shouting sure did.

(Well, just perfect. At least that's a positive on the survivors?)

I slowly crouch down and let go of the assault rifle, then take the handgun and leave it next to the other gun, then let go of the bag and stand up again, raising my arms.

"Uhh, I know it sounds weird but, I'm actually the rescue team..." I say as I keep my voice as calm as I can. The dude's eyebrows almost fused together from the expression he took. But before he could speak, I continued on.

"I was sent by Yuriko Takagi to find Souichiro Takagi along with any survivors in the Power Plant. The estate is in a bit of a 'pinch' you might say, she can't come herself or send more men." The guard just stares at me as I keep talking, his gun still pointed at me. After a couple of seconds I sigh through my nose, as we just kept staring at each other.

(For fuck's sake dude. I probably just summoned every single corpse in the facility, you know this, and you're wasting my time with this crap.)

"I have a radio in my pocket that you can use to speak with Miss Takagi." I speak up as I lift my left knee and point my finger towards the side pocket on my pants. Yet again, the guard just narrowed his eyes and said nothing, but more importantly, did nothing...

"Ohh for crying out loud, you said it yourself, I probably just ringed a dinner bell for every single thing in the area. Just let me take the radio and give it to you, then you make your decision." I groan as I lower my leg and shake my head slightly.

"No sudden movements. Or you get one in the head" Was all the guard said.

(Ohhh, if I find you in a dark corner inside the estate...)

I slowly lowered my arm and put it in my pocket, I could see the guard tensing up the moment my hand disappeared, to the point that I half expected he would just shoot me to make sure. Thankfully, that didn't happen, as I pulled out the radio by the antenna with my thumb and index finger, then showed it to him.

"See. Tis a radio" I say as I wave it at him, slightly failing to hide my annoyance as I spoke to him.

The guard finally seemed to relax a little when he saw the radio, as he lowered his gun a bit. It was 'still' trained on me though. He motions me with his gun to come to the barricade, I nod and slowly walk to the stairs.

"Leave the radio on the barricade and back away." He commanded the moment I got close.

(Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. This guy watched way too many action flicks...)

I do as the guard says and leave the radio on one of the messily put together tables, then take a few steps back. The guard clumsily holds the gun with one hand by the handle as he moves down the steps and reaches for the radio with his free hand.

(If that guy shoots me by accident with the way he is holding that gun, I'm going to give him to Saeko as a punching bag, after I castrate him...)

The guard finally takes the radio, and pushes the speak button.

"Is this Miss Takagi?" He speaks up...

(No, it's a radio. Yea, that guy was getting on my nerves.)

The guard moves the radio to his ear, apparently listening to the response. And a few seconds later, he turns to look at me,

"How do I know this is Miss Takagi and not some random woman?" He 'asks'...

(AAAAHHHH FOR FUCK SAKE! THIS GUY AND HIS PARANOIA!)

"Just, just take the radio to Mr. Takagi, he'll know..." I could feel my left eye starting to twitch. Yep, this guy was ticking me off. The guard in response, did nothing, and was just staring at me.

"Ohh no, I'm not leaving this spot for you to do as you please buddy." The guard 'finally' responds.

(I'm seriously going to bite him...)

"Then call somebody else to take the radio to him. It's not that hard, is it?" I tried to stay as calm as I could while I spoke. If I flipped out here. Well, I would probably get shot by mister paranoia over there.

The guard keeps staring at me as he leaves my radio on the handrail that was next to him, then takes another radio that was in his chest pocket. And shortly after speaking into it, another guard appeared. And then started to stare at me as well.

(Ohh god, they're multiplying. Somebody call an exorcist.)

After an uncomfortably long period spent re-enacting The Shining, the second guard finally took the radio and ran up the stairs. Now, it was just me and the guard again. Oh, and corpses had gathered outside, flocking at the front door once more. Did I forget to mention that? Yep, corpses had gathered outside… again.

(God I hope they don't get inside now. With that idiot over there, I truly believe he will tell me to not move, even if they break in.)

"Just great, now even more of them have gathered outside. Some 'rescue' you turned out to be" The guard started speaking with an obviously sarcastic tone in his voice.

(Why didn't you die at the beginning of the outbreak again?)

The guard opens his mouth to speak again...

"Let him through" When a commanding voice echoed from the top of the stairs. The guard darted his head to the top of the stairs as he straightened his posture.

"Y..YES!" He quickly moves down the stairs and starts undoing the barricade, while I move to take my guns and bag, turning the safety on after picking them up.

(Fucking finally. Talk about a switch in personality.)

I then walked up to the corpse that I took the gun from, with the barricade moved, it was now laying flat on the ground. I kneel down and take off the sling it was wearing, then give the corpse a quick pat-down for any extra magazines before getting up and walking up the stairs.

I could see the guard giving me a really funny look now, as I walked up the stairs.

(What, never played a looter-rpg before bub?)

I just ignore the guard and walk past him. Fixing the sling on me and attaching the rifle on it.

(Thank god this is a three-way sling as well.)

Upon turning to go up the second flight of stairs I see the big boss himself, Souichiro, in all his glory. Waiting at the top of the steps with two other guards flanking him. He was staring or well, glaring at me. Good thing I know that that is his 'casual' face.

(Wait, he has a sword with him? Hmm. In the anime he 'did' have a sword. But in difference with the manga, he never gave it to Saeko. But, Saeko did not get the shrine sword as she did in the anime. So, will she get the one from Souichirou? And if she does get a sword from Souichirou, does this mean that the one at the shrine is still there?)

Realizing I have been 'staring' at nothing during my inner monologue, I lightly shook my head and turned to look at the boss man.

"Mister Takagi I presume?" I ask as I strap my backpack back on me.

"Yes, I am Souichiro Takagi, and you must be Sepfier Naier, from what my wife informed me." He answers as he turns his head away from me. I turn to glance where he was looking at, only to see the guard from before still glaring at me with a disapproving face. At least he did so, until he realized that Souichiro was staring at him. Where he quickly moved to fix the barricade afterward.

"Did Miss Takagi Inform you about the 'situation' back at the estate?" I ask.

"Not in detail," He bluntly replies.

"But whatever is going on back at the estate can wait, we can't leave right now. Not until the power plant is operational again." He continues.

(Well, that's just great. It's not like it won't all be for naught after the nuke blast anyway. Not that I can tell him that. Or do power plants have some sort of safety measures against EMP? Uhh whatever, more importantly, I need to convince Souichirou to come back to the estate.)

"No, it can't. Somebody is trying to gather the people at the estate in order to take control of the place by. Uhh, a majority of vote? And, well. From what I've been told by Miss Takagi, he seems to be doing a pretty good job so far. Pretty much all of the refugees are apparently already listening to his preaches." I stop for a second as I glance towards the window behind the tall man.

(Well, I don't know if that's what he's really trying to do, but I don't care as long as it gets Shido kicked the fuck out my lawn, or his, seeing as it's his house.)

"The name of the person responsible is Koichi Shido." I fold my arms as I finish speaking.

I remember from the anime, that Souichiro had some sort of connection with Shido's father, and that did not hold his father in very high esteem. I hoped that this will be enough motivation to make him come along.

"Even so, the guards at the estate should be more than enough to deal with one stray dog that thinks itself a wolf, no matter how many of its kind it brings along." Souichiro replied lightly with a wave of his hand. I sigh under my breath after hearing his answer.

"That guy ain't an idiot, I highly doubt that he would just do nothing or stupidly put his head on the line. He already has the support of the unarmed civilians, the guards won't be able to do much against 'all' of them." Souichiro just folds his arms and looks at me without speaking back.

"If he forces a conflict between the armed guards and the refugee's, nobody is going to win, other than him. The guards are far outnumbered by the refugees as they have to patrol the perimeter outside the estate. And, if the ones in the estate open fire against unarmed civilians, not only will it be a perfect reason to label them as 'Ineffective' at keeping order and blame it on you, thus gaining an even tighter grip on the remaining refugees." I glance at the rest of the guards before turning back to Souichiro.

"That would also make the refugees be even more distrustful of the 'armed and dangerous' men. At worst it can lead to a full revolt. And I'm pretty sure Shido is more than capable of fueling the fire. With their numbers, the guards will get overrun sooner or later. I can also guarantee you that, should he get the chance, he will use your wife or daughter as a hostage to get what he wants." Souichiro, just kept staring at me after I finished talking. I could not see much of a change in his expression to be honest.

(Also Shido wants me dead. You know, nothing really important.)

"A driver, with me. I am returning to the estate" He finally speaks up with a stern expression.

(Pfew.)

The annoying guard lets out a silent groan as he moves to undo the barricade he just finished setting back up.

"I can drive." I say as I take the car keys out of my pocket.

(It's not that I don't want to stay here with ya lads. But I would rather be hanging around with Saeko, or Saya, or Kohta, or Shizuka, or Zeke.)

The people around just looked at me.

"Ain't you a bit too young to drive?" One of the guards speaks up.

"I'm too young to have a car license, not to drive. And right now, I don't need a license to drive." As I finish, another guard speaks up.

"You can't expect a kid to drive in a situation like this, one mistake could easily prove fatal." The same guard retorts.

(Ughh. Kid this, kid that. Now I see why Saya was getting extra grumpy in the estate.)

"Well, I did deal with the giant horde in the warehouse, and the group that was blocking the entrance while uhh, 'borrowing' one of your jeeps, and I'm still here. So I think I can manage 'not' crashing a car." I was actually grinning under my mask as I spoke.

"If you say you can drive, then you better be able to take the responsibility for your claim." Souichiro speaks up, causing whatever protest there was from the guards to cease.

"And somebody radio in with the guards in the warehouse. If the horde was really driven away and they are still alive, tell them to return here and keep guard. Otherwise, continue as you were. I want the powerplant up and running by the time I'm back." And with Souichiro's order, the men scatter to do what they were just told. Without a word, I move down the stairs and look at the front door.

(Looks like shooting a gun was not a very bright idea after all. Well at least it also drew the attention of the guards here, who knows how long I'd have to search otherwise.)

Saya's father followed up behind me, then stared at the exit and street ahead, now filled with corpses.

"Hmm, wait here." Was all he said as he walked back up the stairs.

(Is there another exit up there? Hmm. No, he said that I should wait here, so he should return. He got a bazooka stashed up there or something?)

My question was answered a couple of minutes later, as Souichiro walked down the stairs, a pair of red, long, thin sticks in his hand.

(Ohh, OHHH. This guy loves his dynamites.)

"The noise will draw the ones blocking the door away, and as we are taking a car, we will use the second one to draw them away from the facility." Souichiro then starts walking towards the broken window I used to enter the building, lights up one of the dynamites with a lighter, and with a strong throw. He tosses the dynamite towards the oncoming corpses in the distance.

(And I was supposed to save 'this' dude? Yuriko must be pulling my leg...)

Seconds later, a loud explosion shook the ground, this one being far away from the building. Needless the say, with a noise that loud, the door was clear of corpses in a matter of seconds.

"Move out." Souichiro orders and he starts moving towards the door, sword in hand as he sidesteps over the bodies on the ground.

Once he was at the door he opened it after unlocking it, and then started moving towards the parked vehicles. I just followed behind him...

"Which car did you use?" He turns to me as he speaks. And I point at the jeep that was parked a bit further away from the rest of the vehicles.

He nods, turns around and starts walking towards the jeep I pointed out. Once we reached the jeep, I entered the driver's seat as he got on the passenger's seat. Then plugged in the keys back in the ignition and started the engine. Souichiro lowered the window in the meantime.

"Move towards the west fence." He orders once again.

(Yes my master. I also kind of like your daughter.)

I chuckle silently as I turn the car around and drive towards the toppled fence. The moment the jeep left the premise of the facility, Souichiro lights up the second dynamite. And tosses it out of the window, away from the facility.

I press on the pedal a little harder, causing the car to speed up, getting away from the horde that was going to arrive soon. And then, a second deafening explosion.

"So, now that that's done. Could you direct me towards the estate? I don't know this place very well." I say as I glance at Souichirou. He just nodded while taking a radio out of his pocket.

"Yuriko, I am returning to the estate. Inform the guards to find Koichi Shido and bring him to the estate's entrance." Just as Souichiro stops speaking, I butt in.

"Uhhh. Also, it will be for the best if I am not seen with you when you meet with Shido. I don't think the refugees that are with Shido will react well when they see me and… "

"Yuriko informed me about your 'problem'. It will not be necessary to hide. The people that want to follow Koichi can share the same fate as him." Souichiro turns to me as he interrupts my interruption. He then turns to look at the street ahead nonchalantly,

(The same, fate? And I like this guy's daughter? Unless I'm reading what's he's implying terribly wrong, I must have a god damn deathwish.)

"After we have climbed over the hill, turn right on the next intersection, then keep going straight" I just nodded at what Souichiro said and kept my eyes on the road.

"It didn't seem like your team needed any rescue in the end..." I speak up a couple of seconds later.

"Because we didn't. We were simply unlucky that when the western fence fell and they got into the facility, our long-range communication equipment got destroyed during the horde's attack. Still, we had managed to contain the corpses that managed to get into the building into one part of the facility, and were in no danger from being overrun or running out of supplies any time soon." Souichiro keeps looking down the street as he speaks.

"But, we were unable to relay such information back. So the estate was left with the knowledge that we're being overrun by a horde. It is understandable that Yuriko wanted to mount a rescue team. I did not expect just one person though." He adds as he glances at me, looking like he was sizing me up.

"Neither did Miss Takagi. This whole thing was my idea, as she was opposed to me coming here alone, and was going to send a normal rescue team tomorrow. But, with how Shido was going after my neck at the estate, and his ever-increasing influence, sitting on my thumbs hoping for something to happen, was not an option. In any case. I still think that I shouldn't be present when you meet with Shido. If he doesn't know I helped, he will at least have one less thing to crow on." I lean my head back on the headrest as I finish speaking.

"Do as you wish then." He answers. And with that, the car fell back into silence.

(Hmm, now that I think about it, how many days do we have till the nuke? Right now it should be, one day before the group reaches the estate in the Original Timeline, if we base it on the anime. And in the anime they stayed there for a day, or two? Uhhh. At least the sun is still out, so I got some time before this day ends. Should I try to E.M.P proof some equipment? But, how do I explain that to the others? I don't think I look THAT paranoid… yet.)

-Sometime later-

"Turn left here, and go straight, we should end up at a barricade. The guards have been informed that we are coming, if you want to get out without anyone in the estate seeing you, now is the time." I nod as Souichiro speaks. And as he said, a barricade came into view not long after I turned the car to the left.

Two guards were standing by a concrete barricade, guns in hand, with a forklift next to them. Getting near the barricade, I start to slow down the car until it finally stops next to the guards. I then exit the car and walk to the guards.

"You two again? Small world… " I say as I look at the guards that had driven me to the power plant.

"Ohh, Ninja boy! What's the matter? Go on, Miss Takagi has informed us of your arrival." The fist guard speaks up with a grin.

"There has been a change of plans. One of you will have to drive Mr. Takagi to the estate. I got an errand to run." And the grin instantly disappears from the guard's face as he stares at the jeep behind me.

(Have fun saying jokes next to the scary big boss.)

I smirk as I start walking away, rifle hanging on my sides.

(Still. Ninja boy, better than Ninja penguin.)

I look at the buildings that surrounded the street as I kept walking

"Hey! Are these buildings clear?" I shout as I turn my head towards the guards.

"Yes! And they have been picked clean, so you won't find any chocolate bars in there!" The same guard speaks up before entering Souichiro's car.

(Hmm. Interesting.)

I continue walking down the street, the estate now visible to my far left.

(So. How do I go from here to there? I need to get back inside, undetected.)

I think as I take a turn to the left upon reaching the first intersection.

(For now, let's just get near the entrance.)

I heard the jeep's engine zoom past behind me as it kept going straight instead of turning to the left as I did.

(And now I want some chocolate. Retarded ass guard and his retarded ass jokes. At least, I did eat while I was being held captive, so it's not like I'm starving or something.)

I chuckle to myself as I keep walking down the street...

After several minutes, I reached the next intersection and took a turn to the right. The estate was now a straight road ahead from where I was standing.

(Wonder what Souichirou will do. He seems more than capable of handling Shido without causing a fight to break out. Or well, I hope he does.)

As I closed in towards the estate, I could make out figures behind the gates. Lots of them.

I stop and look consideringly around at the houses that were next to me.

(I better not show up yet, too many people at the gates. I can stay in one of the nearby houses for some time until the estate's driveway clears out.)

As I could not think of a better plan, I moved to the side of the road, towards the fence door of a house and gave it a push. The door opened with no resistance. The moment I walk inside, I lift my rifle and look down the sights.

(They did say the houses are clear, but I'm not taking any chances.)

I looked around the yard before turning my sight towards the house itself.

The door-sized window that led into the house was wide open, the curtains blowing outwards, giving me a clear view of the insides.

(Looks clear.)

I slowly move towards the window and peek inside.

(Is clear.)

I walk inside the house through the window, and do a quick scan of the room.

(Looks like a living room. The building is a two-story apartment so there should be a staircase somewhere.)

I moved deeper into the house. It seems that the living room was next to the kitchen and between them a hallway that continued to the right.

(A kitchen next to the living room and with no wall between them? Who the hell wants to constantly smell food when sitting in the living room?)

I move to the hallway and with the gun still ready. And shortly after, along the hallway, I found the staircase that led to the second floor. I climb the stairs up and end up in another hallway that extends to my left and right. There was also a closed-door straight ahead of me.

(Well, all clear so far.)

I look around the hallway and decide to go to the right as it was the corridor with a room that would let me see the estate's gate. As I got closer, I realized that the room was already open. So I peek through the open door before completely opening it.

(A bedroom, empty.)

I enter the bedroom and close the door behind me. I then move to the window and get out on the balcony. I could now fully see the gate from the balcony. I nod and move back into the room, doing a quick last check. Closet, room corners, ceiling, under the bed, the usual stuff.

(No corpses, ghosts, or croaking evil spirits. Time to finally sit back and relax.)

I move back out to the balcony, close the window behind me and sit down, my back against the railing. I then took off my rifle and removed the magazine, unloading all the bullets left in it.

(Two, three, five, six counting the one in the chamber. Hmm, gonna need to restock when I get back in the estate.)

I start loading the bullets back in the magazine. And let out a yawn in the process.

(Guhh, c'mon I'll sleep later at the estate, leave me alone.)

I shake my head and finish loading the magazine, then slap it back in the gun. After that I turn to stare absentmindedly at the gate. I could still see the mass gathered near the gate, but that's about it. I could not 'hear' any sort of commotion.

(What's happening there? Ehh, whatever. It doesn't concern me yet.)

I then turn my head to the sky.

(I wonder if any of the 'stuff' from the anime and manga happened while I was gone.

Like Saya going ballistic about her Kohta having to fend off the people that wanted his guns. Though in the anime, that happened after Souichiro returned. What I do know is that Takashi and Saeko should not be as close as they were in the anime during the events at the estate. For one, they did not go to the shrine so they should not be so, intimate with each other. I mean, I hope they are not… Bleh, time to change the subject.)

And like this, time started to pass. Ten minutes? twenty minutes. Two minutes? I lost track of time since nothing was really happening.

(I think I'm going to fall asleep if this goes on… )

I grumbled as I looked back at the gate. Except this time, it was wide open.

(H..Huh?)

I reflexively lower my body, and intently keep staring at the gate. I could see two figures moving away from the estate.

(Somebody's leaving?)

Shortly after, two more figures started walking behind the other two, while still keeping a good distance away from them. I just kept staring, until finally. I could make out the features on the two people on the front.

(A snake… and a donkey.)

In other words Shido and Tsunoda. I jump to my feet and run back into the room so those two won't accidentally see me as they walk down the road.

(They got kicked out? Ohh, SHIT. This, this could be it. My proof that things can change.

No Shido and no bus, which means no broken barricade. No broken barricade means no overrun estate. No… no, no, calm down Naier. Even if Shido is getting kicked out, there's still the possibility of another truck 'somehow' hitting the barricade anyway. Or that the nuke could explode while the barricades are being moved by the forklifts. There are still a lot of things that can go wrong. Still, this is a BIG step towards what I'm looking for.)

My brain was going into overdrive as I jumped down the stairs. I exit the building from the same way I entered it and hide behind the concrete fence wall.

(From the direction they were going, they should probably pass through here. I should stay hidden so Shido won't see me.)

With that, I kneel down next to the concrete wall and wait. And a couple of minutes later.

"You don't understand! I never did anything wrong, they are lying, they are trying to frame me!" A voice could be heard from the distance, slowly getting louder.

"And why the fuck only the two of us are getting kicked out! Yuuki gets to be spared because she can fake her tears and shake her tits?!" I could hear another voice now, this one sounding rather angry, pissed off.

(Tsunoda. Hmm, wait. Yuuki was spared? Well, she is shown to be able to seduce people in the manga and the anime. But I doubt Souichiro would fall for that. Did the guards protect her? Uhh, whatever. A problem to deal with later.)

"All I did was try to protect you people, why don't you understand that! You still have time to make this right! Don't make this mistake!" I pushed my back against the wall as Shido's voice got closer and closer, not that it mattered. But ehh, reflexes.

(From the way they run their mouths. Seems like the guards are not on 'their' side, good. For me that is.)

And soon I could hear them right behind the fence, still talking, still shouting.

"Come on man, we won't survive out there like this. I am just a school kid! What are you expecting me to do? Wrestle with these monsters barehanded?! You are going to kill us!"

(Tsunoda, is really going at it.)

"OHH! For the love of, will you two shut up already! No matter how much to scream at us things won't change. This decision was made by Mister Takagi because of your actions during his absence." One of the guards, probably fed up by all the yapping by the two, speaks up.

"You are making a fatal mistake!" Shido was probably about to snap, as he shouts sounded rather distressed. And as the seconds passed, their voices started to fade away again...

I peeked outside to see that the guards, along with Shido and Tsunoda, had moved past the fence door and were moving towards the barricade that was located down the road. I silently walk out the door and start following behind them. Other than a forklift, I could also see no guards at the barricade, meaning the only guards around here were these two.

(Did the other guys stationed here go back to the estate?)

Once we got near the barricade I moved to the right and entered the nearest house, hiding behind the concrete wall once more. Shortly after that I hear the sound of an engine coming alive.

"You take one step in the wrong direction, and you are dead. Understood?" One of the guards speaks up.

(Hmm, one of em is using the forklift?)

And after a minute or so.

"Out." one of the guards barks.

"At least give us something to defend ourselves with!" Tsunoda shouts, he had probably given up on getting spared, so now he was begging for equipment. I hear one of the guards groan in response.

"Fine… Catch!" I could not actually see what was happening. But by the snickering I could hear, I had a pretty good idea.

"Dude, I am not giving you my knife later, now that you've tossed yours." The other guards speak up while snickering.

"You people. Are a disgrace to humankind. Do you enjoy making people suffer?" Shido asks. I could 'feel' the scowl on his face.

(Ohh? Did Shido find himself a mirror?)

"Shut up and get out, you wanted a knife, you got a knife. Now scram!" The guard shouts. And seconds later, I heard the sound of a gun bolt 'clacking'.

"Don't make me repeat myself… sir"

(That was the most sarcastic sir if I ever heard one. I already like that guy.)

"Ok, ok we are leaving, we are leaving… " I turn to look at the rifle in my hands as I hear Shido speak.

(If he leaves now, he still might make it to the evacuation zone like in the manga. I'll follow him for a bit, see if I can make out what he will try to do next. No time to lose.)

I got up and ran into the house, ending up in a living room once again.

(Same layout as before… Is this place some kind of housing complex?)

I ran to the stairs that were in the hallway, climbed them and then turned to the left and ran down the corridor until I was at the door in the far end. I entered what used to be a kids room and ran to the window on the left wall of the room, and then looked outside.

(Bullseye.)

I had a clear view of the whole road leading away from the barricade now. It seems like Shido and Tsunoda were going straight down the road.

(So, they are going straight. The next intersection is a good distance away. So I should be able to track them for a short while.)

Several seconds later Tsunoda runs up to the side of the road, kneels down and picks something up. Before turning back to walk down the street next to Shido.

(He has the knife? Good to know...)

I turned my sight to the guards that had just finished fixing up the barricade, and were walking away.

(Alright. No time like the present.)

I grip my gun and run back down. Once at the fence door, I peek outside and see the guards walking away towards my left. I wait for a couple of seconds before taking a deep breath and exit the house. Then turn to the right and head straight towards the barricade.

(Jumping over that might be a problem with that barbed wire on the top. Hmm, I could enter the house next to the barricade and jump over the fence wall. Ok, let's do that.)

Course of action settled, I moved to the right and walked to the fence door of the house that was right next to the barricade. I enter it, and once inside the yard I turn to the left and run towards the concrete fence wall. Using the momentum, I climb the wall, and stay up there. Checking what was on the other side, along with the surrounding area. I could see corpses moving around, nothing too freaky though.

(Guess they are focused on keeping some barricades clear of corpses? They will probably want to use a road if they have to abandon the estate, so they try to keep them clean?)

I jump down the wall and end roll forward to 'muffle' the sound. Once I was down on the road, I walked up to the barricade and looked to my right, at the road that extended ahead. I could see two figures jogging in the distance.

(There ya are ya little shits.)

I look at the corpses around me as I grab the rifle with both hands, switch the safety to semi-auto and start moving down the road. I was still a bit far from them, so they could easily mistake me for a corpse if I acted like one. Yet, they never bothered looking back, they just kept going forward. And after a while they stopped jogging , and started trying to walk around any corpse that blocked their way.

(Wonder if Tsunoda's flip flops make noise when he walks...)

Thanks to the fact that I was alone, and better prepared. I was able to close the distance between me and them pretty fast. And as their figures became clearer. My mind kept repeating the same question over, and over again.

(I could end Shido right here, and now. Should I really go through with it though? It is one thing killing a corpse that is pretty much a walking meat bag with no cognitive ability whatsoever, and another killing a living human being. Even if that human being is a dumpster fire that also tried to kill me twice. Still, what will the others think of me if they find out that I went, and actively tried, or did kill somebody? And well, they do say that if you go down that path once…)

I let out a sigh through my teeth as I kept staring at Shido's back.

(Uhhh, but if I let that slimeball go and the whole thing continues the way the manga did. He will get to the evacuation center. And I will be at a huge disadvantage there, if I'm still alive till then that is. For one, it will be after the last chapter of the manga. Meaning, no knowledge of what will happen, and Shido proved one too many times that he wants me dead. And his third try, without me having an inkling of what he might do, in a location I have no idea about, might be his lucky one.)

I grip my rifle a little harder.

( I should follow them for now. Maybe, maybe he will have different plans. And who knows. He might not even know there's even an evacuation. No need to jump the gun, even if I hate his ass.)

And step by step I got closer, up to a point that I could hear them talk.

"...going to do now sir… we won't survive out here alone." I heard part of Tsunoda's question as I closed in.

"I heard from the refugees that there's an evacuation zone at the Shintoko Third Elementary School. We will head there." Tsunoda's expression looked like a scowl after hearing Shido's answer.

(Well, shit...)

"What? That is way too far. We'll never make it." Shido nods at what Tsunoda said before he started speaking again.

"That is true. So, we will return to the estate to 'borrow' some equipment." I could see Shido's face turning to a smirk as he spoke.

"As you saw yourself, the barricade was unmanned. It won't be, too hard to get back inside later. After we get through the barricade all we will have to do is wait for an opportunity to get inside the estate, and trust me, one will come. After all, these people are not trained soldiers. They will make a mistake sooner or later. And if not, we can create a situation that would benefit us. Say for example, an ill-placed barricade maybe?" Shido responds with a slight grin as he speaks.

(Oh that son of a… No. no, no. Stay calm. Just, listen. Don't overreact. Not, yet.)

Tsunoda lets out a huff as Shido finishes speaking and starts talking to himself.

"Ohh I do want to get back at the bastards. Though I wish I could do so myself, rather than let these undead freaks do the job for us." Tsunoda stabs the air around him in quick motions as he responds.

"And that slut Yuuki. I bet she seduced the guards to avoid getting thrown out. Now she's in there, sitting safely on her ass. While we are here trying to avoid being eaten alive." He stops stabbing his imaginary foe and turns to look at the knife he's holding.

"After we lost that bus. Everything has been going to shit." I could see Shido's face turning grim as Tsunoda spoke.

"Yes. It was really unfortunate that we lost that bus because of that transfer student and his little group. And after that, we lost everybody other than you and Yuuki. And now, even Yuuki has betrayed us. Why did this have to happen, Souichiro was supposed to be stuck at that powerplant based on what the guards said. Yet he just appeared shortly after that transfer student and his group arrived. Did they have something to do with this?" Shido narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

"That fucking inbred hypocrite, I knew he was no good the moment we picked him up. We should have left him back at the school to rot." Tsunoda keeps staring at his knife as he speaks.

(Keep talking shit donkey. It is doing reeeaaal good for you right now… )

"Indeed, we could have avoided all of this had we not picked him up. To think that he even managed to split our group in two." After that last jab at my character, even if they 'knew' otherwise, they continued walking in silence.

(Ok. They're definitely up to no good. So, what now? I shoot them? I can't let them sabotage the barricades… )

Tsunoda being unaware that I was about to decide their fates, spoke up again.

"That house. Did it really belong to the Takagi's?" Tsunoda asks, Shido sighs as he looks ahead of him.

"Yes, a real shame we didn't manage to, persuade the people in there." He chuckled.

"Damn. that foul-mouthed bitch has more than just her looks huh." Tsunoda chuckles to himself.

"But she just had to tag along with that fucking retard and his friends. Wonder what bullshit he filled her with to make her agree on leaving the safety of the bus? Ohh, if I just had some time alone with her. I could show her what she was missing." Tsunoda lifts his knife to head-high as he smirks.

"I would make her moan like a b..."

Yet… he never managed to finish his sentence. As he fell forward, hitting the ground with a loud thud. A slight trail of gunpowder smoke coming out from my gun's muzzle. And Tsunoda, now laid motionless on the floor, blood seeping out from the hole in his head, painting the street under him red.

Shido, just froze for a couple of seconds, staring at Tsunoda's dead body. I stayed silent as I started walking towards him, with my gun now pointed at him. The sound of the shot had already made it obvious that I was there. So Shido turned his eyes toward me, before turning his whole body towards me. Each step I took forward, was a step he took backward. He started flapping his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Until…

"You… you killed him..." He squeaked out. I didn't reply, I just kept walking towards him.

"You've...you've gone crazy! You… you just committed murder!" He shouts, pointing his finger at me as he keeps taking steps backward. Again, I didn't reply. I just kept moving forward, the gun still pointed at his face.

"St, Stay away from me! Don't come any closer!" He shouts. I lower my gun slightly and lift my head from the gun's sights, then I stop walking. Shido, seeing that I had 'listened' to his demand, stops moving and opens his mouth again.

"I was right, you… YOU ARE!..."

"Behind you." I cut him off.

Shido instantly stopped talking as his eyes went wide, realizing that a pair of hands were going over his shoulders. And then, a scream as he fell forward. A corpse biting the back of his neck as it also feels on top of him. I start walking towards him again, this time stopping a few feet away from his flailing arms.

"Congratulations. You just turned me into what you kept portraying me to be. Feeling proud yet?" Blood was flowing from the back of his neck as he kept trying to shake the corpse off his back. But, He was already bitten, even if he did somehow manage to escape. He would not survive, not as a human at least.

I turn around and walk past the corpse that was creeping up behind me and start walking forward. I gave Tsunoda's dead body a quick glance as I walked past it from a distance, corpses slowly starting to gather around it as well.

The sound of screaming was now slowly being taken over by the sound of corpse moaning. Yet, I just kept moving forward. Towards the barricade. Which I reached in what felt like the blink of an eye.

I climbed over the same cement fence which I used to exit the barricade's perimeter, then left the yard from the open fence door. After glancing at the barricade, I started moving straight towards the estate's gate, my rifle still glued in my hands. With each step I took, the gate seemed to grow larger. Yet, before I could reach it, a voice stopped me.

"Are you Naier?" I turn to the questioning voice to see a guard looking at me, I answer with a nod.

"Finally, where did you disappear to? Mr. Takagi asked us to find you after you took too long to appear at the gates." The guard turns around and motions to me to follow him as he starts walking towards the gate.

"You missed quite the show! Mister Takagi made quite the fool out of this Shido dude before kicking him out. Heh, even his followers bailed on him." The guard says in a merry tone.

I just kept silent and looked at the guard for a couple of seconds before turning my sight towards the locked gate. He then grabbed a radio that was hanging from his chest pocket and spoke up again.

"Miss Takagi we found Naier, bringing him from the gates right now." And with that, we kept moving forward towards the gate in silence. A couple of minutes later, I could see people gathering behind the gates.

And as we got close, I could see who these people were. The moment the gates opened, they gathered around me. Speaking, shouting, whispering, talking. Yet, I could hear nothing. I just kept walking forward, moving past them without saying a word. I could feel their stares on my back now. I stop and turn my head slightly toward them.

"I'm tired. I'm going to sleep… "


	18. Hit the books

They say some people tend to sleep a lot when they are dealing with big changes

You know, Sleeping it off, letting the brain sort itself out or something

Or...well...maybe i was just really tired...

I mean..for one i don't even remember going to sleep...

(Ughh...why...do i feel so sore...)

I groan as i open my eyes and get greeted by a white ceiling

At least, i was in an actual room and not under a tree or something

I close my eyes again as i lift my arm up and land it on my face

Or...that was my initial aim, as my hand landed on my mask instead

(I didn't take off my mask again?...huh...figures)

I lift my mask and rub my eyes as i get up to a sitting position

And upon opening my eyes i see that it was not just the mask that i did not take off

(...I slept with all my clothes on?...even my shoes?...

Ohh boy, somebody is going to be pissed at me for ruining the bed...)

The open window to my right was letting more than enough sun inside to light up the room, along with a cold breeze that kept creeping up on my face, helping me shake off that annoying drowsy feeling

I shake my head and slide to the bottom of the bed, so i could sit normally

And then rest my elbows on my knees as i look straight ahead, at the giant body mirror that was on the opposite side

My sight falls on the assault rifle that was still strapped on me

(Well...no wonder i'm so sore...)

I look away from the mirror and turn my sight to the rifle

The safety...still in semi-auto

Whatever drowsiness i had quickly disappeared as i started to remember yesterday's events

I rest my thumb on the safety switch and let out a sigh

(So...i went and done it...

I've actually killed Tsunoda and Shido...

It's not like...that they didn't have it coming though, letting them walk would have ended with more people getting killed because of them...

But still...am i supposed to feel nothing about it right now?

Because...that's exactly what i feel...nothing

I don't feel conflicted that i could have handled this in a better way

Nor do i feel any sort of grief or remorse for killing them

I mean...sure...i hated them

But...did i really become so numb after just a couple of days into the outbreak?...

To shoot somebody in the head and just walk it off?)

I lift my head and look back at the mirror

(...Sadly...i don't think that's a question i can actually answer..

Also, i have a bigger problem to deal with right now...that being the group...

Should i...come clean and tell them about it?...Holding secrets will only cause problems down the road...

But...how will they react?

Takashi in the anime tried to stop Rei from killing Shido one too many times, even after they arrived at the estate and he found out why she hated him so much...so he is probably against killing living people...and whether i like it or not, he has a strong voice in the group...

Rei will probably side with Takashi...and i have no reason think otherwise...

She would probably be fine with the fact that i killed Shido...but i don't know how she would react to the fact that i...well...killed

Kohta...Kohta is a wild card in this matter...he was capable of shooting that cop girl he liked...even if that was a mercy kill...which is quite different from what i did, but he should be able to understand...i hope

Saya...I can't really tell...in the anime it was never really shown how tolerant she would be of such an action...or if it was shown, i don't remember it

Shizuka...definitely against..but then again..i can't bring my self to think that she would agree to, say for example...kick me out of the group

On the other hand...i don't know her all that well either

Alice...yea not gonna count her...but if she was scared of me...well she would have one more reason now

And Saeko...Secret sadist aside, she seems like somebody who would understand...i think...

That leaves...three that would be on the negative side...two that probably accept and one that i have no idea...

...Yeaa, now i know how some characters feel when they are making a decision that looks completely wrong from outside the box...

Because...i think i will keep my mouth shut...

After all...shooting somebody should be a last-ditch effort...or well...i need to make sure it will be a last-ditch effort

Then again in the world we are now...some people will be shoot first ask questions later...going passively to them would be equal to suicide...

...Guess as the ancient Greeks said...everything in moderation...

Although i don't think they actually included killing in that 'everything'...

...Uhhh...i knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened, what done is done

I did what i thought was the best course of action, i still think it was the best course of action

And I have bigger problems to deal with right now...problems such as nukes, corpses and derailing trucks)

I switch the rifle's safety and reach for my cellphone in my right pocket

Only to find the pocket empty

(Uhhh...ohhh right

They took both phones after i got arrested...i should go ask Yuriko to give them back)

I get up from the bed lower my mask and stretch as i turn towards the door...

(Ok...let's get going, we got stuff to do)

I move to the door and twist the handle

(Hmm...locked?)

I look at the door to see the key was in the keyhole

(I locked the door?...Wonder what other crap i did that i don't remember...)

I unlock the door and open it, then move to the hallway and look around

(Hmm empty...at least there are no guards by my door...so i guess i'm no longer a prisoner)

I take a turn to the left with no real purpose and start walking down the hallway

(Gotta find Saya's parents and get my phone back

The internet, last time i checked was still alive but that was..two days ago or so?

Still, as long as some powerplants in the local area keep running i should hypothetically be able to long on some sites

And it is still too early for all the powerplants to burn out because of the lack of maintenance...

So either i get my phone..or find a computer in the estate...and gather information on things i need to know

Stuff like H.A.N.E distance and damage to electrical devices

And more importantly DIY survival tricks, like water desalination, starting up fires...all the good stuff

..I had several printed papers of that crap in my house but i didn't take them with me because i'm a fucking idiot...

Or i didn't think i'd survive this long to worry about it)

I was starting to wonder why the hallway was devoid of life when i noticed, after looking out of the window to my right, that everybody seemed to have gathered outside

Also, the vehicles from the powerplant had returned

I move to the closer to the window and look outside

Saya's dad was standing on a big platform like structure

(Was that always there?)

It looked like he was speaking to the masses about...something, i could not hear jack from up here though

(To be honest, it feels like that part from the anime where he decapitates that zombified guy that worked for him a very long time

...Except this time, that guy ain't there...was he already executed?...i don't see a cage though )

I turn away from the window and continue walking down the hallway

(No matter, i should wait for them to finish

I could search the house while they are busy over there...

But i'd rather not start sniffing around the house without permission lest i get on the bad side of Saya's parents for being impolite or something)

I kept walking until i found a set of stairs that led to the lower floor

I turn to the right and go down the stairs

And then keep going straight towards the open door that led to the giant yard in the front of the house

The same yard that everybody was gathered at

(Hmm...the refugees could still be thinking that i might stab them in their sleep...better stay in the corner)

With that, i exit the front door and look around

Right now the mass of people was to my right towards the center of the yard

With Souichiro speaking to them

The main part of the house was behind him

I turn to the left and keep walking until i found a nice shady spot under a tree to sit down and then turned my sight towards Souichiro once more

(I also need bullets...

Ughh where is a pen and paper when you need it...

I'm definitely going to forget something like this... )

And then, i just stayed there...waiting

I spent god knows how long looking at a speech that i could barely hear

And finally, after a long drag, i could see people slowly breaking away from the mass, returning back towards the refugee camps

I get up and slowly start walking towards where Souichiro was at

(Come to think of it...i am really lucky i know Saya, otherwise they would probably throw me out to sleep in a tent or something

...One more thing i owe to our pink-haired chundere i guess)

As i kept moving towards Mr. and Ms. Takagi i also spotted the group, all gathered up on the platform and next to Saya's parents

(They are there too?...ehh, of course they are...

So...let's see...they will probably ask me why i went full edge-lord mode yesterday at the gates

And 'Me sleepy' ain't gonna cut it...gotta think of something...or improvise...won't be the first time)

With that in mind, i kept a steady pace towards my destination

To be honest i did get a couple of side glances from the people that were leaving

But none of them spoke up or tried to do something

Though if they believed Shido it would make sense they would not try to tick me off...not when i had two loaded guns on me...

Sadly, by the time i arrived at the platform, Saya's parents had already returned into the main house

The group was still here though

(Well...let's get this over with, who knows maybe i'm just overthinking things here...)

I get up on the platform and walk towards the group, while they had their backs turned to me, all dressed in their 'estate' attire

Saeko in the kimono, Saya in that frilly dress, Kohta in his green jumpsuit thingi and so on

(...looking at their clothes...reminds me that i need to take a bath and change as well...wonder if they have any black clothes here)

And as i got closer

"...But your dad is really something Takagi" I heard Takashi speaking

"...Oh...yes he is amazing alright..." Saya's voice had an obvious sarcasm in its tone

(...I will go on a limb and say that Saya did not go ballistic about her parents yet...otherwise, she would not sound so...toxic about it)

"At least the people no longer listen to Shido now, hope the bastard dies out there" Rei speaks up right after Saya

"Rei...while i admit, he is a horrible person, don't you think that's a bit harsh?" Takashi turns to look at Rei

She just stares at him before turning her head away towards the refugees

(Yea...i think not mentioning how i let Shido get eaten alive after i passed a bullet though Tsunoda's head is for the best at the moment...)

Takashi then continues to speak

"And we have other things to deal with right now, Sepfier has still to explain why he acted like that at the gates"

(And of course...mister group leader will try to stick his fingers in everybody's business)

"He said he was tired Takashi, is it really that weird? I am sure he will explain if we just ask him after he wakes up" Kohta turns his head towards Takashi as he speaks

To be honest...it felt good to hear Kohta defending me while i was not supposed to be there

Also, speaking about it, i think it was about time i stopped creeping

"And...i also had to play the pied piper with a horde of corpses

So excuse me if i came off as hostile...i was just running on fumes...

That's all there is to it" I speak up as i start walking towards the group, causing them to turn around and stare at me

"That's all i got as an explanation because...that's all there is to it

Also...uhh

Good morning?...It is...morning...right?" I ask as i look around

And after a couple of seconds pass

"It's almost seven am, you have been asleep for...fifteen hours Naier..." Saeko finally breaks the silence

"Well...i did tell ya all i was tired yesterday...didn't i?

I always used to sleep a lot so...i guess it caught up to me..." I put my hand under my chin as i slightly lower my head

The group just stayed quiet as they stared at me

"What...?" I tilt my head as i ask

And Saeko speaks up again

"So...what you are telling us is...that while you were tired enough to ignore your surroundings...

You decided to go to an infested powerplant...and act as bait for a horde...alone, without telling us a thing...

And after you got back, you decided to wait outside of the estate by your self?" She folds her arms as she speaks

(And i just dug my self a hole...)

"Uhh...noooo?..."

I say as i shrug my shoulders slightly

"Naier..." Saeko narrows her eyes as she stares...scratch that...glares at me

"Fine, i messed up, i was tired and made a couple of bad decisions

You made your point...

Ain't gonna happen again, promise" I say as i raise my arms in defeat

Saeko just sighs

"If you understand" She then turns around

"Mister Takagi asked me to meet with him after his speech was done, i should not keep him waiting" She says as she starts walking away

only to stop a couple of steps later

She turns around again and looks at me

"One pm, be at the dojo...Naier" She turns around one final time and leaves for good this time

(And...she's still pissed...)

I turn to look at the group to see them all still staring at me...

"...You people...do understand that she will try to beat the crap out of me right?..." I say as i point my finger towards Saeko's back

"Yeaaa...sure...beat the 'crap' out of you..." Takashi speaks up

"Hum..i hope she does exactly that, maybe you will stop being such an idiot then" I turn to the voice to see Saya who had her arms folded under her chest

and was giving me one hell of a glare

"Actually...You have a dojo here?" I ask

She keeps glaring at me for a few seconds until she finally speaks up

"First floor, after the main door go left and then straight..." She says as she turns her head towards the house

"And...what time is it now again? I ask once more

"Seven" Shizuka speaks up

"Umm...one last thing...does this house have a library? I fold my arms and look back at Saya

"Through the main door then right and then the first door to your left...but...why are you asking?" She asks as she raises an eyebrow

"Other than finding how to deal with broken bones?

I would rather have some papers with information on basic survival methods

And if possible information on how to maintain energy generating equipment or how to do without them

I would rather get caught over-prepared rather than unprepared..."

The group...just stared at me...like a pack of fish

(Really now?)

I sigh and take a deep breath

"I don't mean to be the bringer of bad news people...especially after yesterday's little stunt...but you do realize out situation don't you?

...Take a bad case scenario, a mass blackout because the powerplants went silent

How will you cook if you don't know how to light up a fire?

How will you get clean water if the water taps run dry?

How will to make an efficient light for the night without spending every single candle in existence?

Or making a barricade that won't give way the moment some force is applied to it

And the list goes on and on..."

Stuff like that was never really mentioned in the anime...and if it did get mentioned it got passed up pretty fast, or got sugarcoated by a ton of fanservice a minute later

Now...it was nothing to sugarcoat about, the danger was real and it was coming at full speed

I knew that talking about it would not be nice, but the group's facial expression turned grim none the less other than Saya who just had a serious expression as she stared at the ground

"But...it won't get to this, people are already working towards fixing things, Saya's parents are already fixing the powers plants..." Rei was the first one to speak up

"Yes...but would you rather place all your coins on another person?

Because if something goes wrong, you will lose everything...and i would rather keep a small amount of these coins placed on my self, and that means being self-sufficient, in other words, knowledge

knowledge on how to make an engine work, so you can have a hope of fixing it if it breaks down, knowledge on how to set up solar panels so you can have energy if the world turns dark

I am not saying we are going to pioneer rebuilding the world by our selves, or have no faith in the people working towards rebuilding the infrastructure...i mean hell they know that stuff better than we do

But we need to be able to at least fend for our selves...temporarily at least...

Look...i'm not trying to bring you all down to the dumps, but this is our current situation right now, use the time you have to your advantage

The internet should still be functioning as the powerplants have yet to die out, but we don't know if that will be the case after the first initial blackout

Maybe the servers will need to be manually restarted or something, i don't really know how the internet works , so i don't know what will happen

My point is, use your phones, search the internet while it still exists, look up on things that you would consider necessary

Write them down or something to be safe..."

(It will also keep you all from bickering with each other...)

The group just stared...nothing to really say back at me

Some stared at the ground others straight at me...

(...Ohh for crying out loud why do they look like a bunch of kids that just got scolded

Talk about switching roles...)

"...Well...i'm going to take my paranoia to the library now...uhhh

Actually...Takagi...do you know where your mom is at...she confiscated my phone back when we were at the Humvee" I turn to Saya who just looked at me and nodded

"Go up the stairs after you enter the house...Mama usually stays in the first room...you will find to your right hand..." With that, i nod at Saya and start walking towards the house

(I hope i was not too harsh on them...

But at least...it stopped them from drilling me about yesterday

Or well..drilling each other in overall)

And so, a couple of minutes later i was in the house's main hallway

I look around the luxurious building

(Let's see...straight up the stairs then right is Saya's mom

First floor to the right is the library

First floor to the left is...my funeral)

I chuckle as i move up the stairs and then turn to the right and walk towards the first door to my right

And once there i knock on the door

"It's open" A female voice answers back

I open the door and move inside

Saya's mother was indeed inside, sitting on a desk on the other side of the room with a set of papers in her hand

"Oh..Naier?

Slept well? The others told me you fell into a coma after returning" She says after she lifts her head and looks at me

"I could sleep another fifteen hours if i had the chance" I say as i scratch the back of my head

Yuriko just smiles back at me

"You need me for something?

The engineers returned from the powerplant today morning and we have a lot of work to do" She speaks as she glances back at her papers

"I just want my two phones back, the ones you took after you...umm, arrested me" I say as i tilt my head

"Hmmm...ohh yes, i do have them here..." She opens a drawer in her table and after a bit of shuffling

she takes two phones out and puts them on the table and then looks at me

"One of these two phones ain't yours, is it?

They have a different name, number, and address

Or...you have a double life?" She says with a chuckle

"Yea one belonged to a deceased student, figured i could use it as a...noise grenade"

(I mean...he, she probably is deceased...i never really bothered to learn who was in my class and i don't even remember their faces now to be honest)

She nods and returns to her papers, i move the table and take the two cellphones

"Thanks" I say as i turn around and walk back towards the door

(Next stop, library)

As i open the door i stop and turn around

"The library has a printer? If not, any paper and pencil?" I ask with my hand still at the door's handle

Yuriko raises her head

"Our printer run out of ink some days ago,

Here...you can have these" She opens the drawer again and pulls out a multi-subject spiral textbook along with a pen

And slides it to the corner of her desk

I leave the door and move back to the desk, picking up the book along with the pen, then turn around to leave

"...Watch after my daughter alright?" Yuriko speaks up while i had my back turned to her

"Kohta and Takashi should be better suited for that task, apparently i'm prone at making bad decisions lately..." I say as i slightly turn my head towards her

"Yet, so far you are the only one i see trying to do something, other than wandering around like a lost kid" She answers back

"...i'll see what i can do" I say as i turn my head back towards the door and start walking again

(Weird...is Saya talking about leaving the estate already?...i mean why would Yuriko ask anybody to protect her daughter when she is still in arms reach)

With that, i move out of the room close the door behind me after thanking Yuriko and head straight to the library on the floor below

(I forgot to ask Saya what type of books the library has...

I will be a real shame if all i find is romance novels)

And several seconds later, i was at my target destination

A brown carved wooden door depicting...leaves?

(Fancy door...then again this whole house is fancy)

I open the door and walk inside

And i got to say, i was impressed

(Well...holy shit...When did i end up in Hogwarts?)

The room was vastly different from the rest of the building, for starters instead of the marble, the floor was made out of wood

I could also see several desks neatly lined up next to me on my right

Three long rows of bookshelves that hogged almost the entire room and a couple of windows on the far end, in the wall at the opposite side

The room was also rather chilly compared to the rest of the house...and it also smelled like...books

(Won't wood make this place fire-prone though?

Uhh...No matter...time to do what i haven't done for half my life)

I toss the spiral textbook on a nearby desk

"Time to read some god damn books

...Some break this turned out to be" I started by looking at what sort of arrangement the books had

And from what i could see they were organized by genre

The genre it self set alphabetically starting from the leftmost bookshelf

(So...Let's see

I should be interested in...anything that has to do with self-sufficiency...things like Agriculture, Camping, Survival...and i guess building?

And things that can help me understand how to maintain equipment...or well anything that will have information on machinery that i can use to make my life easier...)

After finishing the little pep talk with my self i start searching the library for anything of value...It didn't take too long to hit a snag though

(...Yea...i'm already lost here

Even with the books set by genre...

I don't know what to look for...

I need book names..)

I move back to the table with the textbook and sit on a nearby chair as pull out my phone

(If the internet is still up...i can use it to do a basic search on the things i need

..Search online for what to look for...

Hmm...

Let's start with DIY survival tips...things like using a magnifying glass to start a fire and sheets to collect water)

I turn the phone on and check the battery

Thankfully, i still had about half a 'battery' left...more than enough for today

I browse through the apps in the phone until i found the internet browser and pressed it

(If i'm too late...then i'm o so screwed)

After what felt like an eternity the App finally opens without any network error

(OHHH...thank you, internet goddess, for not abandoning us yet)

I quickly start typing for DIY survival methods and save the sites so they can be opened offline

...Honestly, you never realize what a treasure trove the internet is...until it is almost gone

I could have spent days looking for information like that...and still end up finding nothing

Now i was just a button away from exactly what i was looking for...

(I'll really miss this ease of access...)

After saving several sites, i wrote down the most important things i found in the textbook

From underground campfires and fishing methods to how to preserve food without a fridge

(I don't know how many of these things will come in handy...as most of them are for when you are out in the wild...

And staying in out in the open with nothing to block the corpses, is a terrible idea...)

Now, this where the library also comes into play

As some sites had a couple of books as 'bibliography' in the end, which i noted down on the textbook

"Fat chance books like these will be here but ehh...won't hurt to look" I turn back to the phone

(Next, ways to generate power and maintenance of machinery

...Solar panels, wind turbines and how to set up a grid, how to maintain them, how to replace broken parts and other things that can come in handy

Because even after the H.A.N.E blast, some equipment should still be functional...i hope...

Speaking about it, i should also read about emp blasts...maybe i can find a good way to make the others agree on taking some defensive measures as well)

Thankfully, most of the big sites were still up and running, including the video ones

And there were a LOT of videos about technical stuff

Problem was...once the phone was dead, no more videos

I leave the phone next to me, letting the videos play as i started jotting down the information

I was mostly just 'parroting' what i was writing, copying it to the textbook without really processing the information

And once again i noted down any info on books on the same page i had written about the bibliography on the DIY tricks

After filling several pages with god knows what, i close the phone and lift my head

(This...is actually kind of fun...but my hand is starting to hurt...)

I get up and rip the page with all the book info

(Ok change of pace, let's see what Hogwarts has to say about my finds)

I glance at the paper in my hands and move towards the bookshelves

And the battle...began

How much time did i spend running up and down the room looking for books that could at least partly resemble what i was looking for?

I have no idea

And honestly...i found...almost nothing...

What i did find, when searching the history section

Was the information on recorded EMP blasts...

After picking several books about it i then decided that i had spent enough time looking at fantasy and romance novels so i return to my desk with the new books under my arm...

Only to find the desk occupied

(...Well...what do we have here?)

A certain pink-haired chundere was sitting on the desk where i left my stuff

She was scribbling down in the textbook while occasionally glancing at the phone

I walk up to the desk and leave the books on it

Saya lifts her head and looks at me, She looked...rather serious...more than usual i mean

"Found anything good?" I ask as i sit down and bring one of the books in front of me

She turns her head back to the textbook and lowers the video's sound

"Figured you would need help with this..." She speaks up

"Because...you are an idiot..." She adds up in a lower tone

I just stare at her for a couple of seconds

(Jee, if i didn't know her better i would say she is trying to help me but is feeling rather shy)

"I appreciate the help" I turn my head back to the book as i speak

And this is how it went on for a good amount of time

Me reading about explosions

And Saya jolting down information on how to start forest fires with milk and corn-flakes

Nothing seemed to change as time went by

Until...

"Do...you really believe it will become as bad as you said?" Saya spoke up

I lift my head and look at her

She still had her head down looking at the textbook

"...No...not really" I answer

She lifts her head and glares at me

"Then why did you have to say all that back there, It did not exactly help the group's moral you know" She keeps staring at me as she speaks

I sigh and take a deep breath as i lean on the desk

"While i do not believe that we will return to the stone age

I do believe we will need to be able to make our lives easier...by our own hand

And not by hoping that somebody will do it for us...especially for free

To make things, more realistic...

Take staying here for example

It will put us under the command of the ones responsible for running this place

Meaning if they want us to do something, we will have to pretty much comply whether we like it or not

If we are unable to do anything by ourselves...then this will also become our only option" I look straight in her eyes as i speak

Though all she could probably see was a mask staring back at her

"And Rei is right... your parents...are working on building this place back up

And so far they seem to be doing a pretty good job at it...so...i don't believe it will get that bad"

Saya narrowed her eyes the moment i mentioned her parents

(...Ughh...shit...wrong choice of words...)

"Ohhh, yes my parents are amazing, they instantly got busy rebuilding the world"

I could see her hands turning into fists

"While they left their only daughter for dead!

I was trapped in that school while they were playing heroes!

They didn't even try to help me!

Their only daughter!

Some awesome parents they are!"

I take a deep breath as i look at Saya

Her eyes were starting to get blurry

(What should i say to her now huh

Just mentioning her parents made her snap...she is not wrong though...and she looks like she is about to cry...

uhhh...)

I lower my head slightly

"I won't tell you that you are wrong, they never gave us a reason why they didn't come for you first

But...there is a bring side to this" I say i lift my head and look back at Saya

"Huh...bright, what can be bright about this?!" She shouts back at me

"Well...for one...we have a location that is relatively safe from the walking disasters outside...and...well

Had they sent a helicopter to pick you up...

I would have never gotten the chance to meet you"

(...This...better not have sounded as cheesy as i think it just did)

The answer was made obvious though, as Saya's face started to slowly take shades of red

(She's mad?...she going to shout?...she is going to shout...definitely shout)

Yet, instead, she just lowers her head and starts 'looking' at the notes on the textbook

"Should you be saying stuff like that to me, when you have a date with Saeko in a couple of hours" She kept looking at the book as she spoke

Honestly...this reaction was the last thing i expected to see...did she just overload or something?

(Date huh...yea, if you are a masochist...considering how she still seemed to be pissed at me when she left)

I lean back on the chair

"Date? Yeaa...no...she is probably going to try whacking me to death..." I say as i fold my arms

(Great...worst possible thing to speak about...especially with her)

"Ohh please, i have seen how you two speak to each other" She shifts her eyes towards the phone

(What is this...my judgment day?

And how DO we even speak to each other anyway?...i have not noticed anything other than the fact that i call her by her first name...i mean

Sure it's something..

But is it really that big of a deal?

Uhh...you know what...fuck it

I ain't gonna play the stuttering schoolboy to this)

I lean on the desk again

"I won't deny it...Saeko is...and interesting person

But...

so are you Takagi...

Take this any way you like" I lower my head and bury my nose to the book, only realizing what i actually just said to her a couple of seconds later

(..Somebody, please bury me alive...the hell did i just say to her)

I keep my eyes on the book, looking around the page without really reading anything

And after what felt like an eternity

"_You..._

_t__his..._

_still..._

_Takagi..._

_...__...Idiot_"

I heard a whisper

I lift my head and look at Saya who still had her head almost glued to the textbook

(Did she just say that...or am i hearing things?

Ehhh...fuck it...i'll bite...i mean, i went this far, might as well sink to the bottom of the ocean now )

I take a silent deep breath

"Maybe...i should start calling you Pink tornado..."

Saya's shoulders jerked a bit before she lifted her head

...I don't think i ever saw Saya's face being that red before, not even in the anime

I also didn't see...when she got that giant ass book in the hands...

"**IDIOT!**"

Was all i heard as i saw the book flying towards my face

And right before it managed to crash land on my mask

(H.A.N.E.S?...ohh nice find Saya)

I manage to read the book's cover


	19. no such thing as over-prepared

(You know...in retrospect, i should have expected for this to happen...

I mean...this is Saya we're talking about here)

Thankfully, the mask absorbed most of the impact as the book crash-landed on my face...

I shake my head until i can focus my eyes again and look back at Saya

Her face...pretty much a pink-haired tomato

"Ok ok i get, no pink tornados, so please, no violence in the library"

She just huffs and turns her head back to the textbook

"Still...Why must i be the only one with a weird nickname..." I say as i open the book she just threw at me

"Because you're..."

"An idiot, i know..." I cut her off as i keep looking at the book

(Talk about a short fuse...the only way to tell her a joke is by posting it online and sending her the link from a safe distance...)

I tried not to chuckle as i kept looking at the book's index

And then...it hit me

(...Posting...videos...wait a minute)

"Hey, are there any recent videos uploaded in there?

You know, post-outbreak" I look up at Saya as she stops writing and turns to the phone

"Yes, if you go at the main page the latest videos are from a couple of hours ago" She keeps tapping away at the phone as she speaks

(...hmm...i wonder)

"Did you watch any of them?" I ask again

She lifts her head and looks at me

Her face still had a slight shade of red on it

Nothing like the 'tomato' red she had a minute ago though

"No, we don't have time to waste remember

You said so" She said as she kept looking at me

"True, but right now this could be our best...and only chance on finding information on what these things are

Out of all the people in the world, somebody with medical knowledge should have had the chance to well...post something...anything" I close the book as i speak

She just keeps staring at me for a few seconds before picking up the phone

"There are millions of videos here, how are we going to find something like that without wasting all of our time" She waves my phone as she speaks

"Easy, look for the most viewed videos from the last two days with tags that match what we want to find, things like

Virus, infection, bacteria, dissection, medical...you know" I point my finger at the phone as i lean on the desk

She lets off a sigh before bringing the phone close to her face

(Why didn't i think of this earlier...

Actually, why didn't SHE think of this earlier? Ain't she a genius or something?)

And a few minutes later

Her eyes go wide

"Found something?" I ask

She just passes me the phone without saying anything

I take it and look at the screen

The words

'Scientific explanation for the new unknown pathogen' Typed on the search bar

Under it

An unending number of videos

Most of them looked the same though

Recorded by a cellphone in the middle of a street

Except...for the first video in the lineup

That one was taken inside a laboratory of some sorts

Under the name 'ADSGNF'

And well...weird name aside, the video it self...had more than three billion views

That was..three billion...in two days

I glance at Saya before looking back at the video

And press the play button...

The video started with the shuffling sounds of a camera being set up

Then, a man in a white lab coat walked into view

He looked like in his late fifties

His hair was a medium shade of gray and he was wearing a pair of thin round glasses

_"My name is Alex Xenogios, i'm a pathologist_

_Me and a group of fellow doctors were inside our workspace when this...outbreak started_

_And now we have been stuck here for what...two?...three days?_

_Matters not...from what we have been informed we not getting rescued...not before we die of starvation, dehydration or this...infection_

_And as the facility __is overrun and __currently working on backup power _

_Figured...i should let people know what we found out before it's too late for us_

_Before any of you get your hopes up, we don't have anything close to a cure_

_We don't have the necessary personnel...or equipment to even try__" _Alex raises his head and looks behind him before looking back at the camera

_"Not anymore"_

He takes a deep breath before grabbing the camera by what i suspect was a tripod and begins walking towards a corpse that was tied up on an operating table

Its torso was cut open, internal organs in full display

Also, it was missing its right arm

The corpse turns its head towards the direction of the camera and starts groaning as Alex moves near it

'_Ok as you can see...the subject is...still 'alive' and oblivious to the fact that it's missing its front ribcage'_

He shakily leaves the camera and positions it so we have a clear view of the corpse

"_So what did we find...for starters, for anybody still wondering, the infected, are in fact...dead_

_This 'thing' right here is nothing more than a husk that is being controlled by...something...a virus?...a parasite?...bacteria?_

_We don't know, what we do know _

_Is that whatever it is, it's in the brain"_

He walks away from the camera for a few seconds

And upon returning he brings a lump of meat near the camera

A heart

"_You all know what this is right?_

_It's a heart...his heart" _He points at the corpse

"_Even after removing the main method the body uses to circulate blood...nothing changed...because these things don't use blood_

_The moment they get up again they have no heartbeat, no blood circulation_

_That is also why they don't die even if they get their limbs chopped off_

_Blood loss means nothing to them_

_What we also found was"_

He turns around and grabs something from the small operating table that was set next to the corpse

And then brings it close to the camera

A syringe...

He then stabs the corpse with it and proceeds to draw blood until the syringe was full

Pulling the syringe back he shows it to the camera again...and after taking the needle off...he puts the tip of the syringe in his mouth

And empties the contents

(...I am...actually seeing this?...)

He winces as he swallows

"_UGHH_..._It tastes like shit..._

_But...it is not infectious, blood...blood is not infectious_

_Only saliva can spread this...like some sort of beefed out super rabies"_

He starts speaking again, while his expression remained that of a person who just ate a lemon

"_They don't use blood...yet they do not decay..._

_No...actually...they do decay...but only partially..._

_Their nervous system, for example, still works as if the person never died_

_And their muscles, are also still functional...and if any of you noticed that these things tend to occasionally become much stronger than expected_

_That is because their muscles no longer work under the normal human limits any more...limits that were normally used to avoid overexertion_

_Now...from all the tests we have done, the only thing we could conclude...which is pretty much a speculation mind you_

_Is that whatever has invaded the host's brain, is also nurturing the nervous system and muscles to keep them running"_

And as the doctor keeps speaking the camera's battery sign starts flashing

Signaling that it was close to running out

"_Also, cutting a limb after a bite...won't work_

_Save your self the trouble and pain_

_The person you see chained up on the table..._

_We cut his arm off in less than a twenty seconds after he got bit, __you can see how that ended _

_And...lastly...people that died from other causes, such as gunshots or bloodloss_

_Do not get up again...now...there is a chance that this facility is just not contaminated by whatever this is_

_But then this also means that the infected don't spread the disease by any other means other than a bite, as we were already overrun when we witnessed that people that died by other methods did not get up again..._

_If...if that is also true for the outside world..._

_Then...there is a good chance that the virus might be lab bred...as whatever this is...it has a very bad way of transmitting itself..._

_And for it to spread globally...so fast...without the ability to travel by air...even if it did 'hijack' our methods of long-range transport like planes and ships to spread itself_

_It should not have popped up everywhere at the same time as it did..._

_...But...again this is just speculation...there are too many holes i can use to prove my self wrong..."_

_He brings his hand on the camera _

_"I don't expect to survive this...but to whoever is left alive, may God be w..."_

And the video got cut...the camera probably run out of battery

I just stayed there looking at the 'replay' sign on the phone

"Lab...bred?" Saya was the first one to speak

I don't know if i was actually more surprised than i expected to be

As i could only hear her from my right ear

"We should take this with a grain of salt...As he said...it was a speculation

But...even if it is true...there is nothing we can do about it...don't let this cloud your judgment and derail you from the task at hand"

I speak up as i lift my head and look at...an empty chair?

(huh...?)

"Ughh...i know you don't have to tell me...it's just...

The idea that all of this is happening because a bunch of idiots decided to fuck up everybody's life..." She speaks up again

And again...her voice comes from my right side

I turn my head to the right to find Saya's face right next to mine, still looking at the phone

"OH HOLY F! when did you even..." I shout as i lean my body back

She winces and turns to me with a glare

"Ughh don't shout at my ear idiot

I kept telling you that i can't see the video but you ignored me" She says as she frowns

"Ohh...sorry...i kinda got sucked in, didn't hear a thing"

She rolls her eyes with a sigh as she pushes her self away from the desk and walks back to her seat

"Figured as much...can i have the phone back now?" She extends her arm as she 'asks'

I just nod and slide it to her

(...Well...

That was quite the bomb to drop in my face internet

In the anime, nothing was ever mentioned on how all this started...so i don't know what is going on either...shame the author died mid-production...

I could have had a very big advantage if there was an actual end to the manga with an explanation...or a place that is a verified to be safe haven or something...

But as i said to Saya..i need to focus on the task at hand...what's the point of knowing...if i die tomorrow)

I return my focus to the book about the H.A.N.E.S

After reopening it and reading the index

I turn to the page that had information on emp range and the damage it can cause

(So...based on what the book said

A well placed high altitude blast...can pretty much fry a whole country as big as the US

It also mentions that small scale items like phones should normally withstand an emp

And they also included most cars in that group

Hmm...weird...seeing as in the anime both phones and cars

Hell even the gun dots got fried

...Actually...that got me wondering...

Are...solar panels affected?)

I pull out the second phone from my pocket and open it

Then proceed to open the browser and type

'Emp on solar panels'

And after a couple of good hits and a quick read

It pretty much tells me

That solar panels are mostly unaffected

But it would still kill the batteries and the such

(Hmm...nothing too freaky if we can find working batteries in a store

...I will keep this in mind

It did say something about diodes, wiring and a controller

I have information on what all that crap is from the notes i jotted down from the other videos...

But i got no idea what they are right now)

I put the phone back in my pocket and continue reading the book

(Power plants ...fried

Telephone lines ...fried

Anything hooked up on the main power grid... bigger chance to fry

So things that are not on the grid...and are not powered up... have hypothetically, a higher chance of survival...

So...raiding an electronics store after the blast...might not be such a bad idea after all

...It does say that the military also has emp proof electronics

Which makes sense...i mean even our humvee is supposed to be emp proof even if it is kind of custom made

As i noticed it has ignition keys... normal military ones do not have keys if i remember correctly )

"Why are you reading that?" A voice snaps me out of my thoughts, i raise my head to see Saya staring at me

"Whatdya mean?" I ask

"I mean exactly what i asked...

Why are you reading about EMP?" She asks as she points at the book with the pen

"Uhh...good question...i just picked it up after watching that video without thinking

And then one thing brought the other..." I say as i close the book

(I did manage to read what i wanted...so it should be fine skipping the rest...for now at least)

Saya just sighs as she rolls her eyes

"Some times you act like the most irresponsible person on the whole planet..." She turns her eyes back on the textbook

"Ehh..."

With nothing to say i just lean on the desk and i try to see what she was writing

"Say...did...anything happen while i was gone?" I ask as i sit back normally

Saya looks at me and raises an eyebrow

"Anything?...anything like what?" I look at her before shrugging

"If you have to ask me to define you 'anything' then i guess nothing did happen..."

I pull out the second phone and stare at the browser's text insert box

(So...while i was gone..the group did not fight?...that's good...

Means me being here changed something to the better)

After that, both of us stayed silent for some time

I used the second phone to search for more information on emp and how to deal with it

Though..everything ended with the same info...either military-grade stuff...of a faraday cage

Both things...out of my reach...making the cage would make me too suspicious on why i wanted to make something so specific, only to have an emp go off sometime after

And then...military-grade stuff...heh...yea good luck with that

So i decided to switch to something different and search for more things you can do without electricity

(Though you never know...maybe after finding Rei's mother and arriving at that school where her dad was in we won't have to do anything

Maybe we'll get extracted by the army and get sent to a refugee camp or something...

Though that would lead to other problems...

...God...even in the middle of the apocalypse, i still hate being around a lot of people...

Talk about hardcore antisocial...)

Saya sighs as she stops writing

I lift my head and look at her

"I think we need to leave..." She speaks up as she raises her head

(Hmm...leave...she means the estate?...so something DID happen...

Maybe that part with the mechanic and Kohta?

Or did she actually fight with the group and got manhandled by Takashi...though that would make little to no sense if used as a reason to leave the estate)

"You mean leave the library?" I ask as i tilt my head

Saya just frowns

"No you idiot, i mean the estate..." She lowers her head

"Your...explanation about staying here when we were in the yard with the rest of the group was actually pretty much head-on...

Staying here would put us under the whims of the adults...and they see us like we are just a bunch of useless kids...dead weight to carry around..."

She kept staring at the textbook as she spoke

I lower my head and look at the closed book next to me

(Well...that is...true...but is doing nothing really that bad?...i mean

We won't be in constant danger and will have food...and probably electricity

Though i guess...we will have to deal with a couple of bad apples...

Even if are not really ' just kids' anymore

But i guess Saya will flip out if i tell her that...)

I lift my head to see Saya staring at me

"Well...leaving...is an option

As long as we can get supplies and a target destination

Ammo...food, water...fuel...lots of fuel

You don't know what a gas guzzler the humvee is, which is going to be a major problem if we don't have a surplus of fuel" Saya just nods

"The car is already ours so we should be able to leave with it...

I could...speak to my parents about the supplies..." She averts her eyes from me as she speaks

(She is not even sure her self if her parents would agree huh...not surprised...supplies are not something that will come about easily now

And i can't ask for supplies as payment for that crazy-ass mission either...as it was my idea and Yuriko was obviously against it

I'm gonna be like them annoyingly forceful window cleaners if i do that...

And yea...no...end of the world or not..i am not doing that)

"We also need to consider the pros and cons of each decision

Leaving lets us make our own decisions...along with also being obviously less prone to being overrun because there will be less noise produced

But will also mean we will have to constantly scavenge for supplies and we will mostly have to stay on the run

As with a small group we need to find an already well-fortified place to hunker down

A place like that...will most definitely be already occupied

and if not...will be a prime target for...not so friendly people" Saya just stared at me as i spoke

No snarky comebacks or groans of annoyance

"Staying here will...will probably keep us relatively safe and give us a steady supply of food

Along with electricity...as we don't know if out there everything still has power

But..it will lock us down...

We won't be able to...look for Komuro's and Miyamoto's parents for example..." Saya looks back to the phone as she nods

"Also..there is something else i need to tell you...this has nothing to do with staying or leaving though

It has to do with you and the group" I say as i get up from the desk

Saya looks back at me with a frown but stays quiet

"I understand how you feel about your parents...

But you must not snap out in front of Komuro or Miyamoto the same way you did with me" Saya's frown...deepened but she stayed quiet

"In difference with me, whose family is on the other side of the globe...

Theirs might be far...but they ain't beyond reach like mine...

If you snap at them about your parents...who are here, alive

They will lash out back at you...

Because they still don't even know if their own parents are alive or not

And...you know...the hardest time is usually the one you have to spend waiting"

I start walking towards the door

Saya just looked at the phone in her hands

Not saying a word

(Out of all of the times she could act meek...it had to be now?)

I turn around

"After all...the only one allowed to piss off everybody in the group...is none other than the penguin

...Wouldn't you agree...Saya?" I say as i lift my hand to head high and point at my self with my thumb

Saya lifts her head and looks at me before looking away

"...idiot..." She lowers her head again and stares at the phone

"The one and only" I turn around and walk towards the door my finger pointed towards the ceiling

(And i just changed my title to 'clown ninja penguin'

Well...as long as our little chundere stays out of trouble...

...Now...what time is it?)

Upon exiting the library i reach for the second phone in my pocket

And find nothing...

(I forgot it on the desk?...ehh whatever

There sound be a clock around here...or i am just going to ask some random dude

I get the feeling that Saya will throw another book at my face if i go inside now)

With that, i start to aimlessly wander around the mansion

(I also need to figure out what to do with the emp blast...

How can i make Souichiro emp proof the barricades?

Right now they use the forklifts to move the giant concrete blocks or whatever the crap these things are

If they are going to have a barricade open after the emp falls...yea trouble it the horizon)

I keep thinking as i walk down the hallways

(Wonder where the rest of the group is at

Saeko is probably with Souichiro...and...from the looks of it...she might be getting a new sword...

Or...she is at the dojo thinking of ways to kill me for being late...hope it's not 1 pm yet...

Shizuka...probably the second floor?...i remember she went through a crisis while staying here in the manga...something about with her age and helping people?..or being a role model?...i don't remember...it was something that made her depressed though

Kohta... somewhere tweaking his guns ...i just hope he stays out sight from the adults...lest we have the whole 'gimi your gun' charade

Saya is at the library...unless she has teleportation skills

Rei and Takashi are probably in a room or something

And Alice is hell knows where...running around with Zeke i suppose?)

I decided to go to the second floor, maybe i would meet with Saeko on the way, see if she is still pissed at me

Or well that was what was my initial aim

As after i got to the second floor and started walking around i spotted out dear airheaded nurse though the windows

Leaning again the balcony

(Is she?...)

The only time we see her on a balcony in the manga was when she was in her midlife crisis...

(Can't have our airhead depressed now, can we...)

I nod to my self and head towards the room that led to Shizuka

And after reaching the room, the door wide open, i walk inside and head straight to her

As i got closer i could her sigh

I..uhh...pretty much crept up next to her until i could look at her face

Apparently ...i really am a ninja

Because either she just ignored me...or she never realized i was there

The other thing was...she was holding a smartphone

(Hmm... a phone?)

I lean in and look at the phone's screen

(She is searching the internet?...guess she did take my words seriously huh...then why is she...)

I focus on the written text...

(Hmmm?...

...How...to run...fast...when...you have...giant...boobs...)

I quickly put my hand in my mouth to hold back my self from laughing...

But...eh...you know...mask

"**PPPFFFTTTT!**"

I quickly turn around as i lean on the marble railing and keep my other hand on my mask, to where my mouth would normally be

Shizuka reacted with a loud **'EEP'** probably getting startled by my sudden 'appearance'

I quickly calm my self down and turn to her...

And uhh...

Shizuka was holding the phone with both hands as she was leaning over the railing...while she was...bending over in a rather provocative way...

She turns her head to me and puffs her cheeks

"Uuuu...you should not sneak up on people like that Serpfiferi, you nearly gave me a heart attack" She 'glares' at me while...still staying in that pose

"...Uhh...you are going to fall if you stay like that...

Also...it's Sepfier...you remember i already told you can call me Naier in the bus...right?" I say as i lower my hand and try not to stare...too hard...

Shizuka finally pulls her self away from the railing

And turns to me

"B...but...I am a teacher..." She lowers her head and looks at the phone as she speaks

(No...you are a school nurse...and what does that have to do with my name anyway?)

"Fine...then please...just...stop feminizing my already weird surname...

Hell...call me ninja penguin if you must...just sto..."

...And...

As Shizuka opened her mouth

I instantly regretted my words

"Ninja penguin!" She cuts me off

(...I regret everything...)

"Would you kindly...just tell me what time is it..." I ask as i shake my head

Shizuka lifts a finger as she opens her mouth again

"Hmm...OHHH YES

You must be careful, being late on your first date with a girl is bad manners" She says as she looks at her phone with a serious face

(My brain...)

"You know it's...uhh...forget it...just...tell me what time it is please" I sigh as i just stop trying

"Eleven and ten" Shizuka answers

"Thanks" I turn around and wave at her as i start walking away

"Have fun at your date!" She shouts while i had my back turned to her

(..You know...i would normally be enjoying this right now...if i didn't know that Saeko gets her kicks by turning people into mush...

...Anyway...i got some free time... what should i do...

Hmmm...well i still need a change of clothes...guess i will pay Yuriko another visit...though i don't know if asking her for clothes is the correct thing to do...it feels like i'm asking a boss what shirt color i should buy...but...i have not seen any maids walking around...soo yea...Yuriko it is

And...then i also need to find out how the barricades work...i could ask Souichiro...but Saeko might be there, i should not risk interrupting them

So, first Yuriko then time for a trip to the barricades

I nod to my self and start moving towards the room i last found Yuriko

Once there i knock on the door and speak up

"Uhh miss Takagi, it's Naier...again" A couple of seconds later

"Come inside" I heard Yuriko saying from over the door

I open the door slightly and look inside

"Sorry to bother, it's actually a lame question but uhhh...

Where can i find some clothes?...preferably black...

Also, you might want to burn the bed i used...you know...for good measure" I look around the room as i speak

She looks at me for a couple of seconds

"Well...i guess it was partly my fault you didn't get the chance to change and clean up yesterday...

Hmm...

Will you stay somewhere for the next hour?

If not then come here in an hour or so

I should have some clothes for you

Just tell me what size i should ask for" Yuriko keeps looking at me as she speaks

(Hmm i will be outside sooo)

"Uhhh...medium?...and i will come here" I thank Yuriko and close the door

Then head down the stairs so i can exit the estate

(Hmm...

So how do i go about this thing now...

Should i ask some of the guards roaming about?

Fat chance they will tell me jack though...

...hmm)

A couple of minutes later, i was out of the estate's main building

And started heading towards the main gate

To my luck, i saw a jeep driving away towards the said gate as well

(Jackpot)

The jeep, after leaving the estate's front gate kept moving forward

Until it took a turn to the left about three?...intersections down the road

Exiting the estate my self...

Was no real trouble...probably because i was also carrying the rifle with me

Though i did get a couple of side glances from the guards

(Kids with guns huh...

wonder if Souichiro said anything to them, staring aside nobody tried to do anything)

After leaving through the main gate i kept going forward until i took a turn to the left at the same intersection the jeep turned to some time ago

And now i could see a forklift in the distance, closing down a barricade as well as a jeep that was parked in the right corner

(Bingo)

I start walking towards the barricade

And upon closing in, i spot the same two guards i met yesterday

(Are these two stuck in perpetual guard duty?

No matter...this is good)

"You two are stuck in guard duty again?

Who did you piss off to suffer this fate!" I shout as i keep walking

The guard that was not driving the forklift turns around

And waves at me

"OI, Ninja boy!"

After reaching the barricade i walk up to the guard

"Naier" I say as i point at my self

"Nahhh, Ninja boy sounds better" The guard speaks up as he folds his arms

"What are you doing here anyway?

Off to another secret mission?" The second guard speaks up as he gets out of the forklift

"Yea as if, i already have my group shouting my ear off because of my last 'secret mission'

They will probably tie me up to a pole if i go off on my own again" I say with a shrug

"You gonna let the girls tie you up to a pole?

Damn, you're one kinky dude" The guard next me nods to himself as he speaks

"At least i'm not stuck in permanent guard duty" I fold my arms and stare at the nodding guard

"You wish, this is actually...much better than the alternative

Driving out there surrounded by them ugly bastards

All we have to do here is switch between the barricades and open them to let the cars in or out" The guard by the forklift speaks up

(Hmm...switch barricades?...interesting...)

"Huh...what you mean switch?" I ask as i look at the guard by the forklift

"Yeah man, i mean...if we used all three exits at once we would get surrounded in a matter of hours

While like this we keep rotating the noise around causing all these freaks to constantly move around

And it helps on keeping the roads relatively clear for the cars to pass" The guard next to me starts explaining

(So...we have three exit points that get rotated...)

"So what, you move the forklift around every hour when you need to move to the next barricade?

I mean i have not seen any other forklifts around here" I ask again as i turn my head towards the guard that was next to me

"Nah each barricade has its own forklift, they are just far apart

If you go straight from here you will find the next barricade to your left hand

And if you keep going straight after that you will find the third barricade on your left hand again

The reason you could not see the other barricade

Is because it's one intersection to the right after leaving the main gate of the estate" The guard next to me point his finger behind me as he talks

I turn around and look at the street that extended straight ahead

(So...if we have three barricades...and is the right one...

Two things left to know...rotation times...and how to manually close a barricade...the forklifts...will be out of action after all)

"Still isn't this risky?" I say as i turn back and look at the guard next to me

"Huh..well everything is risky now" The guard answers

"No..i mean from what you are telling me...the only way to manage the barricade is with the forklift...

what if it gets busted while the barricade is open?" I ask as i fold my arms

The guards look at each other

Before turning back to face me

"...What are the chances though...guess we just push the forklift up to the hole to block it or something" The guard next to me shrugs

(...Or something?...that's all?...no plan?...just...or something?

Ohh...this is bad...still...i fail to believe Souichiro has no backup plan for this...

So...last question)

"So you guys will move to another barricade after some time and keep rotating like that ?" I ask again

"Yep we will go to the one in the center in about one hour as we been here for about two hours or so

Why? you're interested in sticking around here and becoming a Ninja Guard boy?" The guard chuckles to his own joke

"Nahh...just wondering how this whole thing worked...this is, after all, something like our first..and also the last line of defense..." I say as i shrug

"Don't worry, you are safe in here...safer than being out there" The guard by the forklift speaks up

(Yea...for now...)

I just nod

"Well.. i'd love to stick around, but i got things that need doing...

Good luck" I wave at the two guards as i turn around and start walking away

(So...lets reconfirm all this...

First...three barricades

One here, one straight from here and to the left after one intersection from the estate's main road

And one ever further off and again to the left

Each barricade that gets used has its own forklift

And they rotate around them every...three hours...hmm Shizuka told me it was eleven and ten...so i guess it's about eleven and thirty now

They told me they gonna move in an hour...so that makes it...twelve and thirty for the switch then a switch every three hours

...Now...the main problem...

Do they seriously have no backup plan for manually blocking the barricade other than using the forklift?

...I will have to think of something...i am not going to leave anything to luck...not this time...not when the whole estate is at stake...not when this could be my proof that i can change the way things play out)

I keep moving past the estate and head straight towards the other barricade

And as the guards mentioned, one intersection straight after i passed the estate and to my left

There i saw the barricade with another forklift as well as another jeep

(Hmm...the barricades have jeeps parked next to them?

...I am pretty sure that this was not the case in the anime...then again, the only barricade we did see there...looked nothing like the ones here

That one was a narrow downhill road

And while these roads are also one way...

They are much wider, to the point that two cars could...hypothetically squeeze side by side

...I guess...in the anime they were aiming to use a barricade that was not normally 'used' to kick Shido out?...

Or it was the same barricade they used to let him in...it would explain why a forklift was present there as well

...no matter, i'm wasting time thinking about this...

Focus on the task at hand)

I move closer to the barricade and peek inside the jeep

(...Keys are in the ignition?

These guys are really lax when it comes down to their cars

First the ones in the powerplant and now here

...Hmm if there is a jeep on the last barricade as well

I will take a guess and say they are there for safety

A fast escape if things go south

...Shame they will probably be useless after the emp

Though...they are like a lookalike model of a Mitsubishi Type 73

That car was supposed to be pre 2000...so...it...might work after the blast?

If they didn't add any custom electronic parts post basic production that is

Now...one last thing)

I open the jeep's door

Release the handbrake

And try to push it by placing my shoulder in the jeep's door frame

The jeep... albeit a bit slow, did move forward

(Hmm...as a last-ditch effort i could use the jeep to block a hole in the barricade...if things get to that)

I nod to my self lift the handbrake and close the door

Then turn around and leave

And at the first intersection, i turn left

(I should check the last barricade as well, just to make sure)

As i kept walking down the road i looked at my rifle that was hanging on my side

(I also need to get my self a close-range weapon

The knife is nice and all...but it gets my hand way to close to the face of whoever is trying to bite my fingers off

And i don't think my gloves can save me if i stick my hand in a corpse's mouth

...I saw that some of Souichiro's men were walking around with katanas...

I wonder if i can get a sword for my self?...though...i suspect the ones that had a sword were high-ranking members

As not all of the guards had swords with them, an example being the guard duty duo)

After passing a couple of intersections a barricade with a forklift appeared to my left again

And just like before, a jeep was parked by the barricade

(Well...that seals the deal...time to get out of here)

I turn around and start walking back towards the estate

(...I should also return to Yuriko to get my new clothes before my...uhhh

'Date' with Saeko...

...Maybe i should also ask for a full-body riot suit while i'm at it...)


	20. Samurai, i am not

I never realized it...but...

I actually forgot my backpack in the room that i uhh...passed out

So...Here i am now, walking down a hallway

With a stack of clothes on my hands barely able to see where i'm going

(I must look ridiculous right now

At least i still have like thirty minutes before one pm

So i got some time to return to that room and stuff some clothes in the backpack...

Actually...i should check for some bigger bags that can fit inside the Humvee as well

Hell knows we are going to need the space if we leave

But...i must admit...When Yuriko said that she would give me some extra clothing so i won't have to run around every time i need to change...

I didn't expect half a wardrobe...

But hey, everything she gave me is indeed black like i asked, so no complaints from me)

I also decided to take the chance and changed my clothes after taking a quick bath...who knows when i will get another chance

So i was actually wearing new clothes now...new clothes that looked almost exactly the same

Black cargo pants, black shirt and a black hooded jacket along with the arm and leg guards

(Though i also realized something...weird about this world...among other things

I don't smell...

And it is not just me either...people in overall don't smell

Sure Takashi did stink like a skunk in the Humvee...but he got peed by Alice

And Kohta was sitting next to him, so he probably just got shot by friendly fire when the girls smelled them

...Since coming here and getting arrested

I have been running, sprinting and jumping around non-stop

In overall doing things that would normally make me smell like a dumpster

Yet i never did end up smelling

The only reason i did take a bath now was because i could, not because i should

Well...that is good actually...taking a bath every single day during a zombie apocalypse... heh yea good luck with that

...I mean in the anime and manga the main cast did not take that many baths either, other than the fan service scene in Rika's house...though they do change clothes a couple of times so i guess it could be...implied that they did?

Still, nobody ever complained that somebody from the group smelled

But i should not be surprised...this world does function differently in some fundamental levels after all

The shotgun being able to send multiple corpses flying for example

Or that the whole world looks...well...anime...esque? Kinda hard to explain

...Guess i will also add 'people don't smell' in the list of weird stuff

Now...

Where...is that god damn room

It...should have...)

Yet...my thoughts got interrupted by...barking?

I turn my head around to see the little mutt we rescued running towards me

Upon closing the distance Zeke jumps with a bark and bites down on the bottom hem of my pants

And starts 'pulling'

I lift my leg and look down at the little dog that was now hanging like some sort of dried furry fish

(...Just...perfect...)

"Zeke! where did you go! Zeke!"

Reacting to the voice i look up and see Alice running up the stairs

"If you're looking for the furry terminator he's right here trying to kill me!...i think..."

Alice turns around and looks at me

"Hope you have a way to tame this thing! before it tears me to shreds..." I say to Alice as i look at the dog

She runs over to me and kneels down

Then grabs the dog with both hands...and starts pulling him

Needless to say...the dog did not let go

"UGHHHH come on Zeke! let go!"

Alice kept trying...but despite her best efforts...Zeke had already made his decision

And well..Now i was sitting in the middle of the hallway with a stack of clothes on my hands

A dog biting down my pants...and a little girl that was trying to pull that dog...

(Can this get any better?)

After trying for a couple of minutes Alice finally gives up

She stands up and starts staring at me

"Well...looks like Zeke here wants to be part of my evil 'take over the world' army" I say with a shrug as i turn around and start walking again...

Dragging the dog along with me

"No Zeke let him go!

Zeke!

He is going to make you Evil!

Zeke!" I could hear Alice yelling behind me

And uhh...well...

I was trying not to giggle

I am an evil overlord after all...

And so

I spent the next couple of minutes with Alice 'sneaking' behind me while i was dragging Zeke along

(This dog is tenacious i'll give him that...)

Until finally

"Big brother!" Alice runs past me as she shouts

(Big brother?...hmm

Takashi?)

I tilt my head to see Takashi patting Alice on the head

He then turns to me

"Well if it isn't the valiant knight of rainbows and sunshine" I say while trying to sound as serious as i can

Takashi just stares at me like i'm some sort of idiot

...Not that i'm surprised though, judging from what i just said

"He took Zeke and is making him evil!" Alice points at me as she shouts

I lift my leg and let the dog hang in the air once more

"More like the dog has taken me to be honest...

Could you?

I don't want to leave the clothes on the ground" I say as i look at Takashi

He just keeps looking at me before slightly shaking his head and nodding

He comes up to me kneels down and takes Zeke to his hands

Then starts poking him...at his ears?

Probably annoyed by all the poking Zeke turns to bark at Takashi letting go of my pants in the process

Takashi then gives him to Alice

"Zeke, Ohh thank god you are safe" She says as she starts cuddling with the dog that instantly turned docile

(Safe...come on it's not like i was not going to eat him...)

"Thank you Big brother" She bows at Takashi and looks at me for a couple of seconds before running off

(She really doesn't like me huh...)

Takashi then turns to me

"Valiant knight of rainbows and sunshine?..." He 'asks'

I just chuckle

"Alice seems to think i am some sort of evil overlord or something...

Seeing how she asked you for help...

That makes you the hero no?" I say as i get a better grip on the clothes

"Well... you've kinda dressed like one...guns, mask, black clothes and all...

Ehh also...speaking of clothes

You...need some help with these?" He asks as he points to the stack of clothes on my hands

"I'm taking if you are offering" Takashi nods and takes half of the folded clothes

"Don't you think this a bit overkill though?" He speaks up as i start walking again

"Saya's mother gave them to me...

And you never know...i'd rather not walk around drenched in corpse blood" I answer

Takashi turns to look at me

"I see Saya asked you to call her by her first name too huh..." I just nodded

(...You have been ignoring her for years, don't tell me you suddenly started caring about what she does now...)

We quietly kept moving down the hallway for some time before Takashi spoke up again

"A hero huh...

I don't think i can be that..." He kept looking straight as he spoke

"Why not, the whole group seems to have faith in you

Plus they trust you that probably means something

And a hero is somebody who can lead others safely and diffuse conflict without creating more conflict

Not somebody who can kick a head off after doing seven flips in the air...though i suppose it could be an added bonus " I say as i also keep looking straight

"...And you honestly believe i can do all that?" He asks

"Better than i can...

You all seem to know each other for starters

so it makes sense that they rely on you" I say as i turn to him

"No...not really...

I did know Rei and Saya...

But...Saeko, Kohta and Miss Shizuka...

We met right when the outbreak started"He answers

"Well i'm not going to push the title on you...

But i already made more than one bad call so far...so go figure"

(In the anime and Manga they did vote for him to be the leader...don't know if me being here will change that...

But i am not exactly gunning for that spot...too much responsibility)

"And we are here" I say as i turn to the door to my right and knock it with my foot

The door opens up and i walk inside

I spot my bag next to the bed to my right

I walk to the bed and leave the clothes on the nightstand that was next to it

Grabbing the bag i open it and shove everything inside

Then i turn to Takashi

"I can take the rest to the Humvee until we find a bigger bag" I point at the clothes that he was holding as i spoke

"Nahh it's ok i will take them there, might put some in my bag too

I don't mind the black color"

I just nod to his answer

Then get up and toss the bag over my shoulder

"Well i better get going then, if i end up late Saeko will probably go ballistic on me

Thanks for the help" I say as i walk past him

"You...sure seem close with Saeko..." Takashi speaks up

I stop by the door

"Close?...i would not know... not something i can answer

I just asked her to help me with training...guns can take you so far before running out of ammo after all.." I speak without turning around

After a short silence, i just walked away

(Why did this make me feel so uncomfortable...)

I shake my head and speed up my pace

Several minutes later, i was inside the dojo

And Saeko was nowhere to be seen

I walk to the center of the room and see two bokkens that were placed on the ground

"Either i'm too early...or i'm too late..

The bokkens here seem to point towards the later...

But i checked the time before coming here...it was twelve and fifty-five

so..." I take off the belt with the handgun and undo the sling on the assault rifle

Then walk to the side of the dojo and leave the backpack and weapons there before heading back to the center again

(Still...how close am i with Saeko?

Saya for one seems to at least acknowledge my existence now so i guess that's something...

Saeko...For all i know could have been grumpy because she caught Takashi and Rei making out...)

A sudden sound of a door closing knocked me out of my thoughts

I turn around to see Saeko exiting...the bathroom?

And she was already dressed in her 'normal' school- skirt uniform

She also had an actual katana strapped on her side

(Hmm so she did get the blade...earlier than normal too...as it in the anime she gets it after the 'Kohta incident')

I look at the blade before turning my sight to Saeko

"We are..using bamboo swords for this...right?..." I ask

"No" She replies bluntly

"We will be using bokkens" She says as she points to two in the center of the room

"You mean you will be hitting me with a weapon you used to actually kill walking corpses...

...You're still mad at me" I fold my arms as i speak

Saeko just smiles

"I am not mad...not anymore

It's just that i did not like that you thought it would be better to leave us in the dark" She says as she walks over to the bokkens and picks them up

"I already told you why i did that..." I say to Saeko as she walks up to me

"And this is why i am no longer mad" She answers as she gives me one of the bokkens

"Ohh...I see, i really thought you w...OH SHI..."

Was all i managed to say as Saeko instantly swung her wooden blade towards my face the moment i took the bokken

I reflexively lean backward as i jump away...causing me to almost fall on my ass

"You said you were not mad!" I shout as i recover my footing

Only to see Saeko charging towards me

"I'm...not!...mad!"

With each word, a new swing

I managed to sidestep to the left to avoid the first vertical slash

Then used the bokken as a shield by putting it vertically to my right

I also passed my right forearm behind my wooden blade to avoid getting it knocked out of my hand from the force of the hit

Then i did the exact same thing to block to my left side as Saeko instantly spun in place and tried to hit my left

And the moment i found an opening i jumped back

"Could have fooled me the way you are trying to smash my face in!" I shout back

"We...are training!" I could see Saeko grinning as she charged at me again

(...she's actually enjoying this...figures...)

She charges at me with another vertical swing that i blocked with my own bokken

And then she swung vertically again..and again and again

With each swing, she was becoming more and more aggressive...

And each step she took forward, was a step i took backward

Thankfully all the extra lessons i took in close armed combat before the outbreak helped me keep my wits about me and not panic, as i was obviously getting my ass handed to me right now

Because i was just bearly managing to block, let alone try to counter

And it was getting worse by the second

Because other than being more aggressive, she was also getting progressively faster with her swings

She suddenly takes a step back before instantly taking another step towards me, leaning her body forward as she swings to my right

I then also take a step forward, guarding my side by placing my wooden sword vertically to my right

Then quickly sidestep to my left before turning my body to face Saeko and taking several hops to my left until i was behind her

Before i could counter her though she shifts her footing before making a blind spin-swing aimed to my left that i blocked with my bokken

And while still keeping a lower posture she takes another horizontal swing at me this time aimed towards my right

Which i evaded by taking several steps backward

(Gahh i don't know how long i can keep this up, my left hand is starting to get numb from all the blocking

For her frame she hits like a frigging train)

Saeko apparently not wanting to let me pick up any distance puts her left hand on the ground and brings her legs closer to her body before breaking into a sprint

Though i must admit, the way she moved

Was beautiful

Like a dance, each swing flowed naturally to the next one

Problem was...

That dance was also aiming to break several of my bones

And i was running out of room to retreat

Honestly, i had already come to terms with the fact that sooner or later i would probably slip-up and get my ass kicked

As i was pretty much stuck on defense from the moment we started

Upon closing in Saeko brings her sword next to her face while holding it with one hand and points the tip of the blade towards me

(Ok. now or never, avoiding a stab should be easier than avoiding a slash...

And if i fail to dodge...well let's hope i wake up before the nuke blast...)

I steel my focus and wait as i lower my bokken

And the moment Saeko launched her attack i bend my body to the right

Her wooden sword, grazed the left corner of my mask as it passed right next to my head

Not losing the chance i quickly charge forward and crash my left shoulder into Saeko

I land at her left side causing her to lose her posture and take a few steps back

Using the opening i then lift my bokken and swing it vertically as hard as i can to her extended arm on my left

Well not her arm, her sword

Causing it to fly off her hand and fall to the ground with a loud thud

Saeko then grabs me by my left arm and yanks me to my left causing me to hop a few steps to before tripping me to the ground

The moment i hit the floor i roll to my left and spring back to my feet

Saeko had already taken back her sword and was now staring at me

"How is this going to help at dealing with the corpses though...

They kinda...you know...suck at swinging things" I say as i bend slightly and take a few deep breaths

"Corpses aren't the only thing that we will have to face..." Saeko answers back

"True...but that's why i also have that with me" I say as i point at the rifle and handgun in the corner of the room

Saeko glances at the guns

"And what if you can't use...that" She says as she turns back to me

"Then i shoulder charge, disarm and beat the crap out of them " I say with a shrug

"Hmm...well...then you kind of failed...seeing as you didn't 'beat the crap out of' me" Saeko says with a grin

"Well...i can't hit a pretty girl without a really good reason..."

Saeko...just stares at me

(Too soon?...well i said it now...

She might as well just shoot me down so i can stop dreaming)

After a short silence, Saeko finally speaks up

"Am i...a woman to you?" She lowers her bokken and relaxes her posture as she stares at me

(...Didn't she say something like that to Takashi in the anime as well?...

No wait...this seems different...she is actually asking me?)

"Uhh..wait that was a question...or...

Uhh...yes?" I ask as i tilt my head

She does not answer

She just looks away as she slightly lowers her head

And some seconds later she just smiles

"Other than your crazy antics you rarely show any emotion...

And Swordsmanship is, not a very feminine...sport

Add that the mask does not really help in letting me understand what is going through your head" She speaks as she looks back at me

(You also believe you are not worthy positive human emotions...but if you don't start that chat

Then it's none of my business..)

I shake my head and let out a dry laugh

"I guess that is true...

But as for your question

Well...i did avoid hitting you didn't i?"

(And not because i could not hit you even if i wanted to...really...)

Saeko just giggles as she starts walking towards me

"I guess...you did" Her walk then changes to a dash

"But you can't win if you don't fight back!"

(...shit)

For some reason...the only thing that came into my mind

Was to turn around

And break into a sprint

"Hey! what are you doing! Stop running away!" I could hear Saeko shout behind me

"I am not running away!" I say as i run towards the dojo wall

(I am definitely running away)

"Looks like running away to me!" Saeko shouts back at me

"This...

...Is tactical advancement!" I shout again

And using the momentum i run straight to the dojo wall before running up a few steps

Turning my head i see Saeko standing still a few feet away, staring at me

I then put as much strength as i can in my legs and jump off

Straight towards Saeko

I don't know what she was thinking at that moment, but instead of moving out of the way she decided to stay in place and try to block me

And you know...

Trying to block a human that is flying to your face is usually a bad idea

Saeko found that the hard way...as i ended up crashing her to the ground

And...uhh...

Ok...i might have not really thought this through...

Seeing how i pretty much just mounted Saeko now...

(If somebody enters now...this will look so weird...)

"Well...this is...quite bold of you" Saeko while looking completely unhurt raises an eyebrow as she looks at me

Yet does not try to shake me off

Her face slightly flushed as well

Though that could be because she was chasing me around i guess

"Well...i still managed to immobilize you without actually hitting you...i think..." Saeko just laughs through her nose

"Then...why did you ask me to train you when you can obviously fight?" She asks as she stares at me

"Well...knowing how you fight will make it easier for me to help you out there

I was just kinda nervous back at the truck's roof so i said whatever came first into my mind back then"

(I actually just wanted to find a way to spend time with her but..uhh...i am not telling her that)

After that, we just stayed quiet

"Soo...you intend to stay on top of me?..." Saeko finally speaks up as she glances around

"Uhh...right" I get up and take a few small steps back

Then extend my hand to Saeko

After helping her up she starts dusting her self off before picking her bokken back up

I reflexively take a few steps back

Saeko then turns to me

"Well you want to see how i fight?" She says as she grins and takes her stance again

(Wait...we are not done?!)

"Wha, bu..."

I didn't even manage to finish before Saeko was dashing towards me once again

I also realized something...

After i jumped off the wall...

I dropped my bokken

(Well think i will just die now thank you very much...)

And right before Saeko could get too close

The dojo door swung open

"You two, we have a problem!" I turn to the voice to see Takashi looking at us

(...Rainbow knight to the rescue...)

"What's wrong Takashi?" Saeko speaks up first

"Kohta is in trouble at the estate's yard" Takashi answers

Saeko then turns to me

"You two go ahead i will catch up once i get my things" Saeko nods to me and runs to Takashi while i run to my equipment

"Alright, Saeko lets go" Takashi turns around and runs off

Saeko stops by the exit and turns to look at me for a few seconds before running off as well

I think she was...smiling at me?

(Well...that just happened...

But... i got to focus on the problem at hand

Now... the problem...

If Kohta is in trouble...it means only one thing)

I strap my equipment back on me and sprint out of the dojo

(The nuke...is coming today...)

Then straight towards the closest exit that led to the yard

The moment i got out i saw Takashi and Saeko running to my right

I nod to my self and run after them

And soon ...we were there

Kohta kneeling down..hugging our guns

While several adults surrounded him

All of them being of Souichiro's men

(Hardcore de-ja-vu)

Also, i noticed that the man himself, Souichiro, was there

(Hell even the timing is the same...seeing that i show up along with Takashi)

The event then unfolded just like in the anime

Takashi stood up for Kohta by labeling him the protector of Souichiro's daughter

Saeko backed Takashi up and soon

The whole group was there

(Having everything play out the same way the anime did...

Right before the nuke blast...

This is not good for my mental health...

At least...we won't have any 'Shido surprise'

...I made sure of that...)

In the end, i did not have to interfere

As Souichiro ordered his men to leave Kohta with his gun shortly after

And once Souichiro and his men left it was just the group and me

Staring at each other

(Hmm...this is a good time to mention whether we stay or leave)

"This...can turn to be a major problem if they don't change their logic

And sadly...i doubt they will" I say as i look at Souichiro's men

Kohta finally gets up while still hugging the guns

"Thank you guys..." As he speaks Saya turns to him

"You need to stop being a fat otaku and stand up for your self, you had an actual reason to stand your ground, but you chose to do nothing and take it to the face

Aren't you a man?" Saya glares at Kohta who just lowers his head

"Cut him some slack Saya, him saying what you said to your dad would not have had the same impact

Because there is a big difference between you saying that he protected you and him saying that he protected you

Also...your dad if frigging scary..." Saya just turned to me with a frown but did not speak back

"Also most important of all" I say as i walk up to Khota

He looks at me while still hugging the guns

After staring at them for some seconds

I found my old friend

I poke at Kohta

"Dibs on the shotgun" I point at the M37

Kohta looks at me and then at the gun

Then back to me

And nods as he stops bear hugging the guns

I grab the shotgun and pull it along with its sling

And wear it along with the Assault rifle

"Don't worry buddy, we got your back" I whisper to him so Saya could not hear me

"Ok where were we?" I ask as i turn around and face the group...

"Uhh...you really need two guns?" Takashi asks

"Three" I answer

"Huh" He responds

I then open my jacket and point at the handgun with my free hand

The group...just...stares

Except for Kohta, as he was actually eyeing the handgun and rifle now

"Do you need all that?...won't it cause too much noise?" Rei speaks up

"Not if i wear them right

But i indeed won't be running around with three guns

Too much extra weight that i don't need" I answer to Rei

I was about to speak again when i noticed Kohta had crept up way too close to me

Staring intensely at the rifle

(Jeez he bounced back fast)

"This is a..."

"Assault rifle" I cut him off as i take off the rifle along with its sling and give it to him

"Have fun, might need cleaning

Stole it from a drooling corpse

Also still has ammo in the chamber"

I say casually

Kohta's ignores me and just yanks the Type 89 out of my arms with one hand before he starts talking about the gun's history and the use it had in S.A.T. and J.S.D.F

And a couple of minutes later, after Khohta finally calmed down

I spoke up

"So...how are we going to deal with this?" I ask as i look at the group

"This?" Saeko asks

"The people of the estate...

Just because we avoided trouble this time around it won't mean there won't be a second time

Next time it might be the refugees poking their noses in our business

And i get the feeling that persuading them ain't gonna work

I don't know if you guys spoke about it without me

But this leaves us with two actual choices

Staying or leaving, Each with its own consequences" I look at Saya who nods

And proceeds to say the same things i said to her in the library a couple of hours ago

The group stayed silent even after Saya finished speaking

Looking at each other...waiting for somebody to say the obvious

I turn my head to Takashi to see him staring at me

After he realized i was looking back at him, he nods

"So...who wants to leave then?" Takashi finally asks the billion-dollar question

Yet nobody said a thing...

(Hmm...got to make the vote easier...maybe without having to speak?)

"Let's make this simple, those who want to leave, raise your hand" I add after Takashi

He nods at me again and raises his arm

Followed by Rei

Alice looking at Takashi raises her arm as well...

Kohta was staring at Saya

Shizuka was darting her head around looking at the group

Saya stared at the textbook i gave her before raising her arm

Followed by Kohta

And Saeko also raised her arm shortly after

"Guess that settles it then

And if you all are going then i'm obviously not staying here" I say as i raise my arm as well

Also...ever since the voting begun ...i been feeling like something has been pulling my leg...

And upon looking down

I see Zeke biting my pants...again

"Oh hello there young cadet" I fold my arms as i look at the dog

"Zeke no!" Alice bolts to me and grabs the dog again

I kneel down and pry the dog off my pants by putting my gloved finger in its mouth

Only to have it bite down my glove now...

"You sure this is a dog?...

He acts like a god damn crocodile" I say as i pull my glove from Zeke's mouth

Zeke just stared at me while waging his tale

"I think he likes you" Rei says with a giggle shortly after

"He is trying to eat me..." I turn to Rei who just keeps giggling with her hand over her mouth

"Ughh, can we get back on track now?

We need to make a plan ...

As from the looks of it, other than Miss Shizuka we are all leaving" Saya folds her arms under her chest as she speaks up

Shizuka then waves her arms

"Whaaat no no no!

I am coming too!

I...just got too focused on looking at you all and forgot to raise my arm..." She shouts

"Alright then we are all leaving...we still need a plan" Saya adds ignoring the tantrum next to her

"Me and Rei will go find our parents

So if we have no plan...we can go towards my mother's workplace

Shintoko 3rd elementary school" Takashi looks at Rei as they nod at each other before turning to us

"Alright, if it's a long trip though we will have to go and resupply somewhere in-between

Don't think Saya's parents will be able to spare too much for us

Also if we get to have a say on what we get from here

I say ammo, then fuel" Kohta nods as i speak...though i suspect he got sold the moment i said the word ammo

Takashi puts his hand under his chin and lowers his head

"But we need food too and water, what is the point of having ammo and fuel if we die of hunger" He looks up again and looks at me

"Because we won't be able to find bullets out there

Food...we have a good chance to find something...same as water

Fuel...well gas stations are a perfect spot for an ambush from other not so friendly survivors

Take for example going to a supermarket

Looted or not

You might find something to eat and drink

Bullets and fuel?...fat chance

And speaking of it, i think that is where we should head first ...if there anything like that in our way?" The moment i finish Rei speaks up

"There is a mall that is in our general direction...not really on our path..but not too far away either..."

I nod to Rei after she was done speaking

(Perfect, we need to go there anyway...

If i can save the estate...i sure as hell can save one third-person speaking cop

Plus she and Kohta kick it off perfectly..ish

And this guy needs some good news in his life

Also...i might be able to change how things play out there and get rescued from the helicopters that show up...)

"So...we ask for fuel and ammo

Then head to the mall

After that, we move towards the place that Komuro's mother works"

The group looks at each other before they all nod

"Also, call me Takashi" Takashi adds up after me

"Noted" I answer

And as we all came to an agreement

The group looked at the sky that had taken a deep shade of gray

"It's going to rain" Rei looked at the sky as she spoke

"We should head inside, i'm in no mood to get drenched" Takashi adds right after Rei and starts moving towards the estate's main building

Some minutes later as we kept walking Saya came up next to me

"Here..." She hands me the two phones i left in the library

"You are done with researching?" I ask as i look at Saya

"The textbook run out of pages" She says casually

I blink several times and look at the book before turning back to Saya

The textbook, while not enormous was not a small one either...it was actually quite on the big side

"You filled that already?...marked me impressed..."

Saya responds with a 'hum' as she turns to look straight ahead with a smug face

"Of course i filled it, i AM a genius" The moment Saya finished talking a different voice started speaking from my left

"So that means we can go back and continue training?" I turn to my left to see Saeko looking at me with a smile

"Uhhh...right..." I answer

"But this time we are fighting normally, i am not taking

'I can't hit pretty girls' as an excuse" Saeko grins as she speaks

(Ohhh..no...She didn't just...)

Aaaaand now i could feel an ice-cold stare on my back

I turn my head slightly to see Saya glaring at me...intensely

"...So you don't hit pretty girls eeh..." Saya spoke in a low hissing tone while her eyebrow...was uhh...twitching

"Somebody is working fast" Rei who was walking in front of us turned around as she spoke

And then proceeded to start giggling

I just kept my mouth shut as i glanced around

(God damn it Saeko, you doing this on purpose ain't you

And Rei, you should be glad if Saeko actually sticks around me and does not take Takashi out of your hands...just saying

Because she is more than capable of doing that)

"Fine you want a fight, you get a fight" I say as i turn and stare at Saeko

"Perfect" Was all she replied while she kept grinning

"I am coming as well" I turn my head to my right to see Saya still glaring at me

"You...are?" I ask

"I need to make sure you won't do anything creepy to Saeko" I could feel my eye twitch now

(This is definitely going to end badly for me...)

"Hmm this sounds interesting, i actually want to see this as well now" Rei speaks up shortly after

"Yea Saeko will defeat you and your evil army!" Alice adds right after

The whole group turns to stare at Alice who was trying to look...

Menacing? i think she was trying to glare

Though she just looked like a puffed up hamster instead...

"Great...juust...great" Was all i said as i dragged my feet

And so...

We all moved to the dojo

Once there the rest of the group moved to the side

And after i gave my equipment to Kohta i moved to the center with Saeko

Bokken in hand

"No running around this time Naier" Saeko says with a grin

I didn't speak i stared at her

(I will have to end this fast...longer we take

The more excited she will get...and i don't need her beating on my face while she's getting wet

Especially with everybody here)

And like that...we started a staring contest

Saeko didn't move...and neither did i

"Uhhh...are we supposed to count down?" Takashi speaks up

I turn my head slightly towards him

And the moment i did

Saeko charged at me with a vertical slash

The moment she closed it i sidestep to the left while taking a swing at her bokken causing it to sway to her right

I then grab her arm and yank her forward

Having the momentum of the charge she takes several steps before taking a blind swing as she spun around

By the time she turned around i was already running towards her

I take a vertical swing at her which she easily blocks

But i don't stop there

As i took the swing i bent my body and land my knee right in Saeko's gut

Saeko instead of falling back takes the hit then slaps away my blade with one hand and brings her bokken flat square on my face with the other hand

I jump back and shake my head ... i actually felt that even if it was just with one hand that could not even go full swing

I focus my eyes only to see Saeko dashing towards me

(Focus dammit)

I start sprinting towards her as well

And the moment she got close she...jumped

As i saw her knee coming full force to my face

I let my knees give out and lean my body backward using my right arm to counterbalance my fall

And end up on sliding under her...while her knee passed over my mask

Remember how i mentioned she changed to her normal uniform...and that it had a skirt?

(Purple...)

The moment she was over me i stop my slide and while still on my knees i turn my body around and end up crouched down on my feet

With Saeko still having her back turned to me i lean forward and using my right hand to keep my self from falling to the ground

I swing at her legs

As she fell she did manage to land her bokken on the left side of my head though

And let me tell you...this shit hurts...a lot

Ignoring the fact that i felt that my head just got split open i quickly bring my legs under me, grab her right arm with my right arm and pull it until it was completely extended

Also slightly lifting her upper body off the ground

Then with my left hand, i then put my bokken on her neck

And stay like that five seconds...ten seconds...

Until Saeko finally lets go of her bokken

I let her go and get up

Before i was able to do anything though i felt my head splitting in two

(Ughh got up too fast)

"I think you might have done a botched surgery to my head Saeko" I say as i shake my head and put my thumb on the side of my skull

"I felt the impact all the way to my shoulder...are you alright?" Saeko asks as she gets up and looks at me

(At least she is not panting to the fact she bashed my head so hard)

I pull my mask and Balaclava off and put some pressure on the part that Saeko landed her bokken on

Then look at my hand, no blood

"I'm fine..." I say as i look at my hand

I didn't manage to finish my sentence though as i felt a pair of hands grabbing my head and poking it

"Huh wha..."

"Hmm nothing seems broken...but we should put some ice on it just to be safe" I hear Shizuka talk from behind me

(When did she even...)

I turn around

And then

"You have a face!?" I hear Alice shout

I turn my head towards her to see her wide-eyed..her mind fully blown

I just blinked several times before the whole group started laughing

(Really?...)

I just shook my head before wearing my mask and Balaklava back on

"Still...who won?

I mean you disarmed Saeko...but looks to me that to took a nastier beating than her" Takashi folds his arm as he speaks

"If that was a real battle...i guess i'd be dead first

Saeko managed to hit me first" I say as i look at Takashi

"Still you managed to disarm and immobilize me first

So i guess you win this time around

Though...i don't know how much of this was a sword fight in the end" Saeko smiles as she speaks

"I look forward to sparring with you again" She then bows slightly

Caught off guard i quickly fix my posture before bowing as well

"Yea but next time...i will be wearing a full riot gear" I say as i lift my upper body

Saeko just laughed though her nose as she brought her hand to her mouth

And as the group became silent

I could now hear the raindrops hitting against the window

Bringing back the truth that only i knew

(It's really pouring down huh...

It's official then...today...

We lose our lights...

...Let's hope...no...no hoping...i will make sure of it even if i have to do it my self...that the lights is the only thing we lose...)


	21. Lights out

(So...four bullets left in the rifle

Two shells in the shotgun

And uhh three bullets in the p220...along with one eight-round magazine in the backpack

...Yea...I am in dire need of ammo here)

I think as i look at the guns that laid on the same bed i used last night

Which...well...was definitely beyond saving now, as i used it as a table while i cleaned the guns after taking them apart

(Hmm...Fat chance Souichiro will give me any ammo for the type 89 though, as it uses 5.56 x 45 mm's

And the ammo we brought with us consisted of shotgun shells and 7.62 ×51mm's

So i need to either get the Ar-10 or M1-A1 from Kohta or Rei...

Or...i can just get more shells for the shotgun, seeing as it's the only weapon i have with me right now that we had ammo for, before arriving here

And honestly, with how powerful the shotgun is...it might just be all i'll really need)

I take my eyes off the guns and stare at my backpack, the bokken i used against Saeko strapped on its side

...After i finished my little sparing match against Saeko i decided to 'borrow' the bokken i used, as the only close-range weapon i had was the combat knife

Then i spent a good one hour trying to get the rifle and handgun back from Kohta

Who took it upon himself to personally 'teach' me the history of each weapon before returning it to me

Though i think he just wanted to buy more time before returning the guns

The group and i then stayed under cover and waited for the rain to stop...

Or well...that was the initial aim...

As we ended up hearing a bunch of refugees talking shit about Souichiro

And Saya being her usual self wanted to go and yell at them for bad-mouthing her dad...

..If this sounds familiar...its because it is...the whole thing seemed to head straight towards the opening event of the last episode of the anime

So I decided to split from the group then

Even though i did want to go with Saya...and i get the feeling that the stink-eye she gave me was because i bailed on her when she was going to..uhh...pick a fight...i had other stuff that needed doing..

And so, i first went to check the garage with the humvee for anything i could use, this is where found the two shotgun shells

Then i went to grab something to eat...before pretty much locking my self in this room

I also watched a bunch of online videos before actually deciding to check the condition of my guns

And...that's about it

(Though...the Humvee gave me an idea...

Why try to use a car that won't even start to temporary block a barricade and risk getting eaten alive

When i can use a fully functional one?

While there is the risk of losing the humvee and i need to get the keys first

...The risk of losing the whole estate outweighs the humvee by far...

Even if i have a soft spot for that car

As for the keys

Well, if they are not with Shizuka then she will probably know where they are...i hope)

I turn my head and look at the phone that was on the bed next to me

(Seven and ten pm...hmm

Based on what the guards said, they should have gone to the 'center' barricade at twelve and thirty

Then change after three hours to the right one

So...they should have stayed at the right barricade...until six and thirty

Meaning they must be at the center one again...or the left one

Anyway...time to move

That humvee plan sounds solid enough so i will work on it

Seeing how this way i can block the barricade even if some corpses manage to get through it before i manage to get there...

While pushing the non-functioning jeep would put me in danger of getting chewed by a corpse ...

Also even if relatively slow, the humvee is obviously faster than my running speed)

I load the magazines back in the guns and strap them on me

Then throw the backpack over my shoulder

(Alright...let's find Shizuka and get my self a Humvee)

I nod to my self and leave the room

And...uhh...well

The main new problem became obvious pretty fast

(Where...exactly is Shizuka at?...)

I walked around the hallways in hopes of running into her

But to no avail

(Why when you need something...it always disappears?)

I groan under my breath as i keep moving down the hallway

(Maybe i should check the garage with the Humvee before looking for Shizuka...she might have contracted the 'leave keys near car' disease that everybody seems to carry around here)

I nod to my self as i head towards the building's main exit, hoping to end this search before it can actually begin

The moment i got out i noticed that the rain had stopped

The sky was now a deep shade of orange

(...Crap...i'm running out of time..)

I quicken my pace as i moved towards the garage

(So far..i can think of...

Four ways this can play out

One

Nothing happens

The blast will be during a change, or the barricades will be closed

Seeing how this world tries to stick to the events of the anime and manga though... i don't think we'll be this lucky

Two

A barricade open with no crashed cars

Leaving an open hole that can be closed relatively easy

Three..

Crashed car at the barricade

While it probably won't be as bad as with Shido

Depending on how and where it will crash

It could make it hard to block the hole it might create

And four

Open barricade and a crashed car at the barricade

Honestly...if this happens...then i'm going to sue whoever is responsible for me being here after i get eaten alive

Along with whoever was driving that crashed car)

And so a couple of minutes later

I was at the garage

The place was empty, like the last time i checked

(Guess the mechanic did not need to fix our car...as we did not crash this time around

Though it makes me think...can a humvee be damaged that bad from a crash like the one from the anime?

I mean..even with all the customizations it is still supposed to be military-grade)

I walk by the car while letting my hand run along its hood

(Still...i will miss this bad boy if we lose it...

I sort of have linked it with the Hotd anime...

Plus you know...it's an awesome car for a zombie apocalypse)

I pat the Humvee on the hood

(Guess i will have to try and keep you alive as well huh...)

I then move to the driver's seat

Upon opening the door i sit inside and grab the steering wheel before looking at the ignition switch to my left

(No keys, but the doors were unlocked

...speaking about it...i remember in the anime right before they bailed the burning estate

Shizuka turned on the car with a switch, meaning in the anime...the car didn't use keys...

Weird...then again...in the anime smartphones didn't exist either...something we obviously have here...

Uhh whatever, keys, keys)

I then start looking around in the car

Glove box...negative

Next to hand break...negative

Visors...the car does not have visors

Between the seats...negative

On the seats...negative

Under the seats...is that a cigar?

(Hmm... can't see them anywhere around here)

I exit the car and then go behind it towards the workbench

(This is where i found the two shotgun shells...and obviously no keys here)

I rest my hands on the table and let out a sigh

(Shizuka it is then)

I think as i lift my head and look straight at the tool rack on the wall

And freeze...

A key...hanging there...right in front of me

(...Uhh...yea...

Not a chance)

I take the key none the less go straight to the Humvee and put it in the ignition switch after sitting on the driver's seat

The key slides in without any resistance

(...Yes, a chance)

Then turn the key

And the humvee comes alive

(Ohh...I'm a happy panda now...err...penguin)

I chuckle to my self as i kill the engine and remove the key

Then move back to the workbench

As i was about to put it back on the wall

(... Somebody might have the bright idea and try to escape with the only working vehicle after the panic starts)

I pocket the key and leave the garage

As i walked back towards the main building of the estate i looked at the open main gate

(Ever since Souichiro returned they have been leaving the gate open for people to move about

...Well that's good for me actually

Less time wasted opening the gate after the bomb goes off

I will just have to be quick about this so they don't close the gate before i can actually drive out of the estate

And well...hope the humvee actually works...even if the six-wheeled hybrid vehicle had shown no signs of existence in the estate so far...

You never know how bad your luck is until it hits you in the face)

I let out a huge sigh and look at my phone

(Didn't Saeko tell Takashi that men should not sigh?

Ehh whatever

Seven and thirty...

What are the chances of the bomb not going off...

Hmm..that would have to mean that the ship that was responsible for taking care of that nuke did not get overrun

I don't think anything i do will matter on that fact...that ship is will probably get overrun no matter what i do)

Upon closing towards the main building i spot Shizuka hopping about excitedly

Before she proceeds to hug Alice

After what seemed to be a small chat she extends her arm...and yanks Takashi's phone out of his hands

I stop dead in my tracks...

(This...Oh shit)

I slowly take several steps back

And after i made sure that nobody from the group had realized i was there...

I quickly turn around and walk away

The moment i was out of their sight i break into a dead run

(...fuck, fuck, FUCK,

Seven-thirty, seven-thirty

That should be...

Central barricade)

And as i run

A blindingly bright flash in the sky

But i didn't stop

Instead...i run even faster

By the time i arrived at the garage, the light in the sky had already subsided

I swing the humvee's door open, take off the two guns and place them on the passenger's seat along with my bag as i seat behind the steering wheel

I shove my hand in my pocket and pull out the key

As i was about to put it in the ignition i hit my hand on the steering wheel making me drop it after losing my grip

"Well, this is fucking Cliche!" I shout as i bend down and grab the key that fell next to the pedals

Then shove it in the car's ignition switch

(Please, please, PLEASE work)

I turn the key

And feel the whole car shaking as the engine comes alive

"YES! You beautiful bastard!" I slap the steering wheel with one hand as i stomp on the pedal

(Ok...focus, focus, calm down

I need to get to the central barricade pronto

On the way, i can check the left barricade from afar

That leaves only the barricade to the right unchecked but it should not be used right now)

As i sped down the yard i could feel every single person present here staring at the car

(I bet my leg that ninety-nine present of them think i'm trying to flee right now

The rest are probably still wondering why the sky just turned into a temporary Fourth of July)

The moment i passed through the gate i kept driving until i reached the intersection that led to the three barricades

I turn the car to the right before hitting the brakes causing it to slightly skid as it came to a halt

I open the door and lean my upper body outside of the car as i look behind me, towards the 'left' barricade

(Clear)

I close the door as i pull my body back to a normal sitting position and with a roar from the engine the Humvee starts moving forward again

Driving down the road i felt my heart beating all the way up to my ears

(I really wish there was a pause button right now

Because i can't seem to be able to calm my fucking self down)

Upon closing in on the next intersection i slow the car down and prepare to look to my left

If this barricade was also clear, then the right one would be the last one i would have to check

And then, we would be home free

Yet...i got my answer...faster than i expected

As i saw a guard appear from the left side of the next intersection, running like total lunatic

(...Not...good...)

I press on the pedal harder as the guard starts to frantically wave at me

I speed past him before pulling the hand brake while turning the car left on the intersection

And...well...

(Already?!)

Corpses...lots of them...had already moved past the barricade and were slowly shambling towards us

Behind them, i could see the barricade

One of its concrete blocks was on the forklift that was next to it

A couple of corpses were also munching on what seemed to be the remains of the second guard that was still seated on the forklift

(Why...why no matter what i do things seem to always end up like in the anime?

Even without Shido here...)

I look at the guard that was still staring at me

I open the door slightly

"Why are you still standing there you dumb fuck! Go warn the estate!

NOW!" I slam the door as i shout

The guard snapping out of whatever trance he was in nodded multiple times as he turned around and started running again

I look back at the oncoming corpses...

Then close my eyes and take a deep breath

(What if no matter what i do...

Things will always somehow end up playing like in the anime...

Having to accept that Saeko will be fucking with Takashi will be the least of my worries...

...Saya fleeing her own burning home with her parents still inside

Kohta breaking down after shooting Asami...)

I open my eyes and look at the barricade in the distance as i grip the steering wheel

"No...Fuck...that...

Fuck all of it

I'm either stoping this

Right here...

Right now...

Or...i'm dying on this god damn street "

I step on the pedal as i release the handbrake and drive head-on to the oncoming corpses, straight towards the barricade

"If i have to be a viewing bystander as everything around me falls...

...Then fuck this world and everything it stands for"

Seconds later the first corpse collided with the hood of the humvee only to be followed by another and then another

And soon...the bumping sound of corpses crushing their skulls against the car was the only thing i could hear

The only thing i did care for though...was for the car to keep moving, to reach that barricade

Which it did

I hit on the brakes causing the humvee to start skidding as it closed in on the barricade

Being bigger than the hole the car ends up hitting the corners of the nearby concrete blocks, causing them to slightly slide along with the car like a two-door gate

The impact ended up sending me violently forward, making me hit my forehead head against the steering wheel

"Ughh...Second time the mask saves my face from blunt force trauma...

...This thing really needs some seatbelts..."

I groan as i look at my left...to see that the car actually had seatbelts...

"Or i need to stop being blind"

I turn my sight towards the windshield to see a sea of corpses ahead of me

My eyes go wide as i dart my head around before moving towards the hatch on the car's roof

The moment i opened the hatch whatever ambient noise existed got swallowed by the constant sound of moaning and growling

I pull my self up on the roof and look around

Half of the humvee had moved past the barricade

With the concrete blocks touching the humvee on the sides

Effectively blocking the hole

Before i could celebrate though, i felt the car shaking before moving slightly backward

I look towards the hood of the car to see an ever-increasing number of corpses pushing against it

"OH SHIT! HANDBRAKE!"

I duck back down and pretty much jump towards the handbrake before pulling it

And the car, finally stops moving

I let out a huge sigh as i lift my head

"There goes another two years from my life"

I grab the guns and bag before going back out

And once i was outside again i looked back at the remaining corpses that were inside the estate's perimeter

"All this noise caused the corpses to turn around and head towards me

This should effectively keep the estate safe"

I then turn and look at the amassing horde

And...

The realization hit me

I've actually done it...i managed to block the barricade

Even with their numbers they did not seem to be able to get over the humvee as they just kept clawing the burning hood

"We are closed, go home...dipshits..."

I turn back to the corpses that had now started to surround the trunk of the humvee

"...And i just trapped my self...perfect"

I peek back inside the car and randomly pick one of the bags that were there

Then bring it up on the roof as i rest my back against the open hatch door

"Hmm..black clothes?

Did Takashi leave them here?" I ask my self as i open the bag and start poking inside

As i kept searching i also found a small carton of...

Energy bars?

"...confiscated.."

I open the box and take one of the packaged bars form inside as i throw the bag back into the car

Then take off my mask and pass it over my arm before pulling the balaclava and do the exact same thing with it

With nothing blocking my face now, i take a bite out of the energy bar

(...Did i...really just save the estate?...

This...seemed too easy...

There...could be another hole somewhere...

No...don't think like that...especially now that you are stuck here and can't do jack shit)

I shake my head and turn to the corpses to my right

"You hobos want some?" I grab a second bar from the carton and point it towards their extended arms

"No?...fine more for me"

I turn my body back towards the car's hood, making sure that no corpses had actually managed to climb up before looking back at the street that led to the estate

"...This is taking them awfully long...hope everything is ok at the estate...

If i have done all this for nothing...then

...No...just...wait..wait for...

Uhh?"

And speaking of the devil

A group of humans appeared at the intersection

After a short stop of what seemed to be them...staring...They started moving towards me

As they got closer i could see they were also dressed in full firefighter attire

Just like when we first got rescued

They also had the same gear as last time

The compressed..water guns or what they are supposed to be

I guess they didn't get affected by the emp?...no electronics in them?...

Maybe they had spares that worked...

I don't know...

The moment they got close they started taking out the ones that had strayed too far from the mini horde that had gathered at the car's trunk

One person shot them with the gun

Then the other decapitated the corpse with a fire axe while it was still on the ground

I just stayed on the humvee chewing on my energy bar as i kept staring at the group that dealt with the corpses...and...occasionally looked behind me

Soon i also noticed that Takashi, Saeko and Rei...no actually

The whole group was there

Including Saya's parents

Takashi and the two girls were just ahead of the rest

And they were helping the members of the adult group

So i guess they managed to pursue the adults to let them help...

Or you know...time of crisis and morals go out of the window

I also saw Saya awkwardly aiming a gun before Kohta moved close to her and started pointing at something

Judging from her facial expression as she turned to Kohta...She did not look really all that pleased with the intervention

(Hmm she got the luger?)

As the whole group got closer the corpses surrounding the back of the car started to turn around a shamble towards them

I pulled out my handgun aimed at the closest corpse with one hand then pulled the trigger

The noise causing the corpses to stop and turn around again

Only for the firefighters to move in and take out another couple of corpses

Making the whole group turn towards them again

And me shooting at them...again...

This cycle continued even after i run out of ammo and changed to the extra magazine i had in the bag

Until finally the number of the remaining corpses was too small to pose a real threat

I just holstered my handgun and continued chewing on my energy bar then

By the time we were done, the sun had also completely set

Meaning it was night, and the estate was not overrun...yet

After all the corpses had been dealt with

I pick up my stuff while leaving the energy bar carton on the roof and slide down the trunk of the humvee

The moment i touched the ground i saw one of the firefighters giving me a thumbs up, i return the motion and start walking away while shaking my legs to get rid of the numbness

"You did this?" Saya's father walks up to me as he looks at the humvee

I turn around and look at it as well

"As you saw...corpses were already over the barricade...

I focused on plugging the hole before too many could pass though" I turn to Souichiro to see him nod

"Looks like your quick thinking did really save us this time...

Good job, Naier" I just nodded at him...slightly wide-eyed by how...nice he acted

Souichiro then turns around and looks at the firefighters

"Search every nook and cranny for any infected that might have escaped!

and double-check all the barricades!

Letting even one of them escape can prove fatal!" He shouts at the adult group

(And...he's back)

They replied by spreading out and beginning the search

"I will return to the estate, we might have lost all of our electrical equipment

But we still need to figure what to do with that" He points at the sea of corpses that was making a racket on the other side of the barricade

With that

He walked away as the rest of my group came up to me, including Saya's mother

"You have a knack for doing things that nobody agrees on, don't you?" Saya's mother speaks up

"He has a knack for being a huge frigging idiot!" Saya butts in as she leans towards my face before i could even speak

"If you are going to say that i acted on my own again...

I am going to say that you all just acted way too slow instead..." I say as i point the energy bar in my hand at Saya's face

She stares at the bar for a couple of seconds before huffing and looking away...as per usual chundere reaction

"Yet the fact still stands

As my husband said

Your actions saved us from a very bad situation

Still, how did you know?" Yuriko puts her hand under her chin as she looks at me

"That the barricade being used might fail?" I ask as i take my mask and balaclava out of my hand and wear them

Yuriko just nods

"I noticed that forklifts were the only thing being used to open and close the barricades...

After the emp blast, i figured there is a chance that the forklift might get busted while moving the blocks

And...sadly...i was right..." I turn to look at the forklift that still had the remains of the unlucky guard on it

(...The two guards on the barricade duty today...were the same ones i spoke with several times during my stay here...were they not?...

So this is...

...Rest in peace...this is all i can offer you now)

"...We should head back...

Mister Suoichiro is right...we're not out of the woods yet..." I turn my head back towards the group before i start walking away

(...The horde might not be in the estate...

But it's still way too close for comfort...we need to get rid of it before i can give the world and its knack for following the anime the middle finger...

Though...i do have an idea...and seeing how Souichiro seems to acknowledge that i managed to stop this..even temporarily

Hmm...yea...it could work...)

I nod to my self and pick up the pace as i walked toward the estate

Upon reaching the main gate i turn around and wait for the group to gather

"You all got a minute...think i have a plan on how to deal with this horde that is camping outside"

The group looks at each other before turning to me

"And...it includes all of us this time?" Saeko 'asks'

I just chuckled

"Yes, it includes all of us, because it also includes us leaving the estate" I say as i fold my arms

The group looked slightly surprised, but they quickly refocused on me as they nodded

"It's actually pretty simple

We use the humvee to lure away the horde" As i spoke the group just...stared at me

"...UHH...You want me to tell you that you are an idiot now...or after you explain to us how this is even going to work" Saya replies

"When i was at the powerplant your father used dynamites to lure away a horde

We can do the same, both to clear a way for the humvee to drive though

And to get the horde to follow us as we drive off" I answer to Saya

"Wait...they have dynamite here?" Kohta asks right after

I turn my head to Khota and answer with a nod

(There is also a second part to my plan...but i'll keep to my self...for now)

Seeing as we were short on time

And we were planning on leaving the estate anyway

The group agreed to my plan as they could not think of anything better

So we moved inside, towards the estate's main yard

Where Souichiro was talking with several other men

And as we got close

"We need to get them to move away from the barricade as quicky as possible

We don't even know if that car can hold up against so many infected pushing against it

What if they break through?" A man in a white uniform was speaking with Souichiro

"I know, we will have to reinforce the barricade...

And not just this one, with the forklifts out of order we need to take countermeasures

Until we find replacement parts to make them functional again" Souichiro replies

"I think we can help with that" I speak up as i move towards the men

Other than Souichiro who kept serious face, the rest of the men turned to look at me with a...'funny'...look

"What you have in mind Naier" To their surprise though Souichiro motioned me to continue

"Dynamite" I answer

Souichiro raises an eyebrow as he looks at me

"I know you have dynamite here, you used it in the power plant...

We will do the exact same thing here

The humvee can still run

So we will use it to drive the horde away

It will give you time to seal the hole after the car is no longer there and hopefully drive most of the horde away from the estate" As i finish Souichiro nods

"Hmm..sounds solid...

But who would drive the Humvee?

You understand the ones driving might not be able to return" He asks

"We will" I answer as i point at the group behind me with my thumb

One of the men probably not being able to hold himself anymore speaks up

"What?...you expect a bunch of kids to do this?

There is no way..."

"Excuse me?" I interrupt the man

"Sorry but correct me if i'm wrong...

But while you all got caught trying to pull your pants up

I was out there doing your job by plugging a god damn hole you 'adults' opened and then failed to close" I fold my arms and lean slightly forward as i speak

"We were..." Before the man could open his mouth

"Enough" Shouchiro spoke up causing the man to pipe down

"If you want to do this, i won't stop you

Just know that you will have at maximum two days to return here

We will be leaving the estate for a more favorable position

If you're not back by then...All of you will be left behind..." He glanced at the group before turning around

"We will also need supplies"

Reacting to my voice Souichiro turns around again and looks at me...

And i could also feel multiple stares on my back now

"We will also be looking for Takashi's and Miyamoto's parents

So there is a chance we might not make it back in time

We would like to have some extra dynamite

Ammo for the guns we use, and fuel for the humvee"

As i finish one of the men speaks up again

"You little...what do you think you are..."

"Payment"

I cut him off

Souichiro folds his arms as he looks at me

"For saving the estate...twice" I say as i also fold my arms

Souichiro just stared at me

And he keeps staring...for a good two minutes or so...

Until he finally nodded

"You will take as much as you can fit in the humvee

You can decide what you what to take

The horde outside won't wait for us to get ready

So we will begin as soon as you are finished"

Saying that he then walks away, the men following behind him

I turn to the group and stare at them

Until finally...

"Not gonna lie...didn't think it would get this intense..."

I drop my hands to my knees as i take a deep breath then look back at the group

"So...we stick with ammo and fuel?" I ask as i lift my head

The group just kept staring at me before they all started slightly nodding

"Ummm...how are we even going to get everything to the jeep?...

Is it not stuck at the barricade?" Kohta asks

I look at Kohta with a smirk that he could obviously not see because of my mask

"Why...we do your favorite thing of course...we walk

A lot...

Multiple trips, carrying the stuff from here...to there" I say as i point towards the general direction of the humvee

Khota's eyes then go wide

"You gotta be kidding me...right?" He asks

"Nope...

And the faster we start, the faster we finish

...And i know i said ammo and fuel only, but as we have the free for all, we should also take some food and water to lasts us a day or two

So...let's get to it ya?"

The group nods at me before they all start heading towards their own direction

"Hey Kohta" I call out to him while he was pretty much dragging himself on the floor

He turns to me while still keeping the same posture

"You know all the new guns we got right?" I ask

He just nods

"Alright you are the only one who can do this...so

Decide what ammo is better to take with us and at what quantity

Oh...Except from shotgun shells...we are taking a mountain of them no matter what... because, shotguns"

Once you are finished ask whoever is in the 'armory' or whatever place they keep the ammo here to set up what we need

I will come to help you carry it once i get the chance"

Khota probably preferring this over carrying water bottles straightens his posture and he brings his hand under his chin

After thinking for some time, he gives me a thumbs up

"Consider it done boss" He then turns around and walks away

(Boss?...

Eh...whatever

So...what should i do now..

Kohta can definitely handle the ammo

So...fuel and food

I guess we could also add some extra clothes?

I mean all we got is that mass of black stuff...

Though...i also guess the mall will have some clothes to pick

Hmm...i will head to get the fuel...)

With that, i start heading towards the garage, hopefully, i could find somebody to redirect me from there

Or well that was where i was going...before spotting Shizuka with two big crates

Walking blindly forward as the boxes covered her face

I shake my head and run up to her

Once i was next to her i poked her arm

"Give me one of these before you end up air flipping to the ground" Shizuka looks at me with a smile

"Umm...ehehe...i think...i got a little...more than i can handle"

(This ain't a challenge you dumbo)

"Yea..." I say as i grab the top box and take it from her

"...Thank you" She finally starts speaking normally as she corrects her posture

"What is in here anyway?" I ask as i get a better grip on the box

"food and water" She replied

And So, we moved towards the Humvee..

It didn't take long for Shizuka to start chatting, probably bored from all the silence

"Why do you keep wearing that mask"

"I like it"

"Why do you keep wearing black"

"I like it"

"...Where did you learn to drive?"

"I li..errr..I did some lessons with my father when i was younger

I guess they just stuck to me"

"Ohh...sorry...i didn't mean..."

I turn my head to her as i raise an eyebrow

Only to understand what she was sorry about a second later

(Right father is on the other side of the globe)

"Don't be...

I might be away from my parents...

But... i was actually really lucky...because i was able to find you all...

...Trust me...it could all have been much worse...so don't let it drag you down" I say as i turn to look at the street ahead

Shizuka didn't reply

After a couple of seconds, i turn to my head again only to see her staring at me slack-jawed

"What?

Don't tell you thought i was not grateful for being here?" I ask

Shizuka shakes her head as she smiles

"No...it's just that...it is something else hearing you say it..."

I just laughed through my nose as i lowered my head...

Upon arriving at the barricade

I find Saeko, Takashi and Rei by the humvee

Several fuel canisters next to the car's trunk

"Looks like we will be taking some food with us after all"

Reacting to my voice the three turn around to face me

"Two boxes?

This should last us quite some time actually" Rei speaks up

"Ummm..actually one box is water, the other one is rations and canned food" Shizuka replies

"Hmm i think we have enough fuel and food

Remember we still need a good amount of space for the ammo and dynamites" I say after Shizuka as i leave the box in the car and look at the canisters

"Saya went to get the dynamites from her dad

Ammo...i don't know" Saeko replied

"I sent Kohta to deal with the ammo

So...

I guess we split into two groups now?

One to help Saya with the explosives and the other to help Kohta with the bullets

I already said to Kohta that i will be helping him, so i'm going for the bullets" I speak after Saeko

(Sorry Saya, but i ain't backstabbing Kohta by bailing on him...

Even though...it's really tempting...

...No...no no bad Naier

Never backstab a bro, never)

"Hmm i will go help Saya then" Takashi folds his arms as he speaks

"I will go with Takashi" Rei adds right after

"Ummm...where should i go?" Shizuka asks

"Go get Alice" I answer...

The rest of the group turns to look at like like i just spoke in a different language

I dart my head around as i look at them

"...what?" I ask

"Are you sure we should take a little girl with us?

She will be safer here.." Takashi scratches his head as he speaks

(True...)

"But what about her mental state?"

The rest of the group looked even more weirded out by my answer

I let out a silent sigh

"You all never wondered why Alice is still her cheery self when her dad died ...what...two..tree days ago?" I ask

They all just looked at each other before staring back at me

"You" I point at Takashi

"Me?" Takashi points at himself as he tilts his head

"Yes you, you dork

The moment her father died...

You were there to keep her safe when everybody else was going to leave her for the dead

Effectively replacing him as a father figure

Of course, she knows that you are not her real father

But she sees you as her protection and care

If you try to leave her behind, even if it is for her own good

She will think you abandoned her

You really think she will be able to handle getting left behind by two people she trusts with her life in rapid succession?"

Now they all just looked at me like a bunch of fish...even Saeko...

(...Really...is it that surprising?

Who the hell do they think i am? Fucking Hanibal?)

"...Wow...First saying that you feel really lucky to have had the chance to meet us...

And now this...

You really...are a nice person" Shizuka claps her hands together as she smiles

(...Of course...

She would go and spill whatever embarrassing thing i might have said to her to all the wrong people...

Fucking...ughhh)

I dart my head to her before turning around

"We are still standing next to a giant horde, let's get going" I say as i walk away

...And i swear...i could hear giggling behind me

(Note to self...

Never say embarrassing things to Shizuka...

...Sounds so obvious now that i said it to my self to be honest...)

As i kept moving i heard a voice coming from behind me

"Well...you're the last person i expected to see running away from something" Turning to the voice i see Saeko walking up to me

"I didn't run away from anything..." I say as i turn my head back towards the street

Glancing back her i could see her staring at me with an

'Oh yeah?' expression

"Uhh...fine i'm just not good with all that sugary stuff" I say as i turn to her

She just smiled as she covered her mouth with her hand

"Yes...i...kind of figured that" She says as she looks at me

After that, we kept moving in silence for a short while

"...Lucky...

Don't...take this the wrong way...

I am really glad that you consider your self lucky to have met us...

But...should you really trust people this easily?...

Some people...

Might not be what they appear to be..." Saeko didn't look at me as she spoke...

(...Wait...

Is she?...

Uhh...shit...hmm

ok...how do i go about this?...)

"...I don't trust people easily

But you all have effectively saved my life more than once

Being it by watching my back out there...Or by letting me stay in here

And...well

Name me one person who doesn't have a skeleton in their closet..." I say as i turn my head to her

"You?" She asks as she also turns to look at me

"Pfft!" I nearly choked as i tried to hold my self from snickering

(She's pulling my leg...right?

Let's see...

Stealing cash...

Lying through my teeth about god knows how many things to everybody in the group

Killing living humans without getting even slightly shaken...

...Wanting both Saeko and Saya...

And the list goes on)

I lower my head before shaking it slightly, then look back at her

"Saeko...Just look at me..." I say as i lift both arms

"My looks alone should say 'I am fucked up secrets reincarnate' " Saeko tilted her head as she kept staring at me

"Secrets...Like what?"

I just snickered to her question

"Now you don't expect me to just up and tell you...do you?

Not when you have not said a thing about your self to me..."

Saeko just stares at me before looking back towards the street

"True" She says before slightly lowering her head

"But...You should be careful what you wish for..."

Her voice was so weak that i think she didn't intend for me to hear this...

But well...i always had good hearing...

"Not something you want to talk about...understandable...there is a reason they are called secrets...

But...just so you know...I'm here if you need me

...After all, you kept telling me not to go off and do everything on my own"

Saeko just turned to stare at me again

And some seconds later

I dart my head to Saeko

"Ok, forget i just said that...way too cheesy..."

She just giggled

"A man must never go back on his word Naier..." She says as she kept staring at me

"Well...My offer still stands...

Just...uhh...forget the way i mentioned it?" I answer

She just closed her eyes and laughed lightly through her nose

Before turning to look at the street ahead of us

"...If i will ever feel the need...then i will...

Count on your offer..."

I just nodded as i kept walking towards the estate

(...I won't lie...if her opening up to me means us getting...closer...then i'm all in for it

But there is also the other part in this...and that is, her bottling up to the point of bursting

If i can make her accept her self...or make her believe that somebody accepts her...even without us getting closer...

It will keep her stable...and that is still as important)

I then glance at Saeko

(...Because...jokes aside...

If she does go berserk...

I don't think i'll be able to stop her...)


	22. Departure

Well, gotta thank the moon that i'm still able to see where i'm going, what with the lights being dead and all

But to be totally honest...i would rather be walking blind right now...

As after our little...'chat'

Even though i and Saeko were walking next to each other, neither of us had said a thing...

Not out loud at least...

(I'm here if you need me?

When the fuck did i even...

...Ughhh i must be stupid...

Nahh scratch that

I am stupid...

Not to mention that i probably just triggered every single death flag in existence...

But hey...it could have been worse

At least she didn't respond with a 'Don't worry i have Komuro' or something

...

Yep...definitely could have been worse...

...Huh...

Here i am, preparing to dive headfirst into a giant ass horde...

And what keeps replaying in my head is the chat i had with Saeko a couple of minutes ago...

...Priorities still anything but straight i see, ey self...)

As we arrived at estate's front gate i saw the yard illuminated by the same liquid candles that Souichiro's men used in the anime

(Hopefully, they ain't gonna start a forest fire this time around)

"So, where do we go from here?" Saeko asks after we stopped by the estate's entrance

"They must keep all the firepower around here...somewhere

sooo...an...armory?...I got no idea where it might be at though...

Hm...give me a second" I say as is turn away from her

And walk up to the guard that was standing next to the front gate

"Excuse me, does the estate have an armory or a building used to store ammo inside?

A friend of mine should be there, waiting for us with an...order"

The guard turns to look at me

And grins...

"We go no armory...

But we do have a warehouse with most of our ammo and guns inside...

Keep walking straight and you will see it, it's the only building that isn't connected to the main house

It's...straight and slightly to the left from here"

After the guard was done speaking i turn around to return to Saeko only to see her behind me,

Before i could speak she nods at me

I turn to the guard again and nod as well...

The moment we passed the gates the guard shouts

"Oh, and good luck!"

I turn to the guard without stopping only to see him trying to hold himself off from laughing as he slightly hunched his head forward, all the while keeping one hand over his mouth

(...I have...a bad feeling about this)

After that, it did not take too long for us to find the structure that the guard mentioned

And...why he found the whole situation so...funny...

...I could see Kohta...waving at us energetically

Next to him...a giant pile of multi-colored wooden crates, stacked up in the form of a pyramid ...

(..You...gotta be kidding me...)

And i mean GIANT

i could easily fit inside along with two or three more people if the insides of the pile were hollow...

(...Why did i leave our gun nut unsupervised in an ammo warehouse again?

And how the hell did he even manage to stack the boxes like that anyway?)

The moment we got close

"Hey so, what are we going to move first

The shotguns shells you asked for are in the red boxes

We also have slugs but the crates are the same color as the normal buckshot, so i don't know exactly which box has what, what i do know is that we have five crates of buckshot and two crates of slugs

We can start with them if you want

Though i recommend that we start with the 7.62 mm's in the green boxes...or you want to get the 5.56mm's first?

They are in the green boxes that have a darker shade of green

As we have only one gun that uses that type of ammo

I took only four crates

The orange ones have all types of handgun ammo

...Oh and the blue ones have 50 bmg's"

Kohta was practically drooling as he barraged us with words

"Kohta...we don't have.."

"The yellow ones have rockets" He cuts me off

(Rockets...wait...Souichiro has rockets?...)

"Kohta...in relative size...Show me how big is the Humvee..." I say as i stare at the pile of crates

"Ohh no worries, we can tie them up on the outside of the car

I have it all calculated

No need to worry"

(Ok...letting Kohta do this unattended...was a bad...idea...)

"Kohta we are not going to tie anything on the outside of the car

Being it crates, or people

...Also...three crates of 5.56?"

"Four" Saeko cuts me off

"How many bullets can a crate fit in anyway?" I ask

Kohta puts his hand under his chin

"As these are old type wooden boxes i would say...hmmm

One thousand two hundred rounds?

They are bigger than the normal metal ammo box and these usually can hold up to

about eight hundred if i remember correctly " I just tilt my head slightly

"So you are telling me you want to take...

Four thousand eight hundred bullets...

For one weapon..." I just stared at Kohta like an idiot

"Hmm...yea you are right..." Kohta nods

I was about to take a breath relief when

"Might not be enough"

I ended up choking instead

"Ghhh.n..no stap, Kohta just...ughh" I take a deep breath as i clear my throat

"Three boxes" I say as i look at him

"Hmm, are you sure? i mean...you are a relatively good shot...as long you fire on semi-auto...then i guess..."

"No Kohta...we are taking three boxes...in total"

Kohta looks at me like a just said a bad joke

Until he realized i was not joking

"What! you can't be serious! we will run out of ammo in no time!" He shouts back at me

"We are not aiming to start a war here Kohta

...Rockets?...50 cals?

Where are we even going to find weapons that use that kind of firepower?" I say as i fold my arms

"But...we need to be prepared...

You never know, we might find some...out...there..."

Judging by how he stopped shouting and looked at the ground...

I guess even he knew how ridiculous that sounded

"Uh...

We will take..one box of handgun ammo

One box of rifle ammo

And one box of shotgun ammo

The handgun box will be 9×19mm Parabellum bullets, as we have two guns that use that

The only gun we have that uses another type, is the Smith & Wesson M37 which uses .38, so we either leave that gun with whatever it has inside or see if we can change it for another p220 that uses 9x19mm's"

Before i could finish a man in a white tank top that had several black stains on it, along with overalls that he was wearing like normal pants came up to us

While not as bad as his shirt his face also had several black stains on it

Other than that he was shaved and his hair was tied to a small bun on the back of his head

"I can do exactly that if you want, we have several p220's in the warehouse

I don't see the trouble giving you one for the m37 as we have ammo for that as well"

The man spoke as he cleaned his hands with a rag before stuffing it in his pocket

I nod to the man and look at Kohta

He just sighs

"Just...let me go get it..." He says with a dejected tone as he starts dragging his feet towards the armory

"It's alright, once you go to pick your weapons for good i will change it for ya" The man in the tank top turns to Kohta has he speaks

I just looked at him while tilting my head

The man turns to me and upon noticing that i was looking at him with my head being almost sideways now, he chuckled

"Your friend brought a couple of guns here some time ago

Figured he was going to give them to me to put them in the warehouse, but he instead asks me for several cleaning kits along with all these boxes you see here"

The man turns to Kohta

"But i have to admit, after seeing him work

Your friend over here knows his shit

Especially for a kid"

He then turns back to me again

I just nod before speaking up

"Alright...also

Take this as well" I take off the type 89 and toss it to the man

Much to Kohta's dismay

"All of our guns use 7.62 mm's

No reason to cut our ammo supply in half for one gun"

I say as i look at Kohta...who just frowned as he stared at the gun that was now on the man's hands

I think i could see tears forming in his eyes...

The man looks at Kohta...then back at me

"Uhh...wait here for a sec" He says as he walks back to the building with the gun in his hands

"Do we really have to give it away Naier?...

We could have used it you know..." Kohta says as he stares at me

"I got the shotgun and p220

You have the AR-10

Saya has the luger

I can give the one p220 to Takashi

The other one will go to Saeko" I say as i point at her with my thumb

"That would be unnecessary

I don't need a gun

As i don't even know how to use them" Saeko adds right after me

I turn my head to her

"I don't mean to look down on your skill as a swordsman...

I personally know how good you are with a sword

But you always need to have a plan B

A gun...is your plan B..

Just have it on you, even if you won't use it

If need be i or Kohta will show how to shoot" I say at Saeko as i look at her

She just stares at me

"Uhh..fine...i will hold on to your gun for now

Until you change your mind"

She just nods before shifting her eyes towards the warehouse ahead of us, turning her whole head shortly after

The...uhh...Tank top man was walking towards us...in his hands...

"Holy shit is that a Scar-H?!

This is used by the JGSDF!

How did you even get that?!"

Kohta being himself instantly comes out of his temporary depression the moment he saw the new gun

"Naier right?

I heard what you did for us at the barricade

I also heard that you all are leaving and the young miss will go with you

So take this as thank you...and as a seal to a promise that you will keep her safe

As for where i got it...should you really wonder that when we have enough weapons to fit a small army here?

Let's just say...Mister Souichiro is a very...talented man"

He extends the arm that was holding the gun, offering it to me

I just nod and take the Scar-H

The moment i got in my hands, i started checking it out

(Hmm...other than that the fact that it has an

Uh...Aimpoint

Can't really tell which version though

And...i think this is the same three-way sling i had on the type89

The rest of the gun looks unmodified)

I look through the sights only for the man to speak up

"It didn't have any batteries in it

Could be its saving grace though, as it might work if you add new ones

Before you ask, i don't have any, i would have tested it my self otherwise"

I lift my head as the man speaks and nod at him

"None the less, thank you

This cuts our problems to a simple

Three boxes with three different types of ammo

Shotgun shells

9x 19 mm's

And

7.62 mm's" I turn to Kohta as i speak

He was just nodded while he kept staring at my new gun

I just shake my head and look back at the tank top man

"Sorry sir but it looks like you pulled this mountain of ammo out here for no reason

We will be taking only one red crate with buckshot

Along with one green crate and one orange crate...

Well...Mister Souichiro needs us to be ready as fast as we can...

...but...seeing as this is partly my fault...want us to help gather the crates for a short while?" I say as i look at the man

Only to see him shake his head

"Ughh...i won't lie...it will take me a lot of time to put everything back inside

But i'll probably just wait for somebody to come over and drag him into helping me

Then blame you if he asks why he has to help" The man snickers as he speaks

"Because as you said, the big Boss is waiting for you

And if you end up being late because of me

He is going to have my ass on a plate...and for good reason too

So it's fine

I appreciate the gesture, but take your boxes and go"

I nod at the man and move to the colorful heap of crates

After going to where the red crates were stacked i kneel down and open a random one

Shotgun shells were neatly organized inside

And...honestly, i don't think i have ever seen so much ammo in one place...

I pick one shell and look at it

(Hmm slugs usually have the top part of the shell open right?

These here have a plastic cover on the top

So i guess they are buckshot ammo

...Though it makes me wonder

If buckshot can do so much damage here...

what can a slug do?...demolish a whole building just by touching it?)

As i closed the crate i open another red one next to it and pick one the shells from inside

That one did indeed have the top part open

I then pocket the shell

"I will take one slug...just in case somebody pisses me off beyond belief " I say with a snicker

"Alright, so how we do this?

One person carrying a crate is as retarded as it sounds so...

We all three carry one?" I ask

Kohta nods as he moves to me

"We take the shotgun one first?" He asks

"Fine by me" I respond as i get up and grab the rope handle

Before Kohta could react Saeko moved next to me and grasped the handle that was on my side as well

(...Should i be this happy because she just did this?

...I need to stop getting excited over every single little thing...)

Kohta moves to the other side and takes hold of the other handle

And with the count of three, we lift the crate

The way we picked it up

Me and Saeko would be moving backward

While Kohta moved forward

So, while still holding the crate's handle with one hand, I turn around

That way i could walk forward as well

Saeko glanced at me before doing the same thing

"Alright, let's get this over with" I say as i start moving

"Just don't go too fast guys!" Kohta shouts from behind

Saeko turns to look at Kohta with one eye while she kept moving forward

"And girls..." He adds right after...

And so, our first trip began

We walked past the estate's yard and into the street

Following the same road we used to come here...not that there were many roads to pick from in the first place though

And again...nobody was saying a thing

Not that it mattered though...as there was something else on my mind right now

(...You know...i wonder

Did Saya's dad have all this firepower in the anime too?

He did use dynamites...so i guess he could have decided to use that instead of rockets...

And...most of the 'guards' in the anime did have guns yet i don't remember them ever saying anything about conserving ammo...

so i guess they...might have had a lot of it stocked?

Also...uhh...

I expected this to be harder...

Is it because Saeko is unnaturally strong...

Or i just don't wanna end up looking like a loser next to her?

Heh...guess even i ain't immune to that bullcrap)

By the time we reached the Humvee

Saya was there with Rei and Takashi, their backs turned to us

"Hey! You all done there?" I shout, causing them to turn around

Saya says something to Takashi before he nods and runs up to us grabbing the box from Kohta's side

"Thank's man" Kohta replied to the gesture

"Don't mention it, and no we still have one more box to go" Takashi replies

"I see, we have two more left" I say as i look at the two metal boxes next to Saya's feet

And no, i was looking at the boxes

Not Saya's legs...Mostly...

"...Alright...

I will be going for the next ammo crate as well

As there is something i need to ask the one that manages the armory..."

While i spoke we reached the Humvee and loaded the crate inside, then we gathered a few meters away from the Humvee

"And that question would be?" Saeko asks

"A camouflage net" I answer as i turn to her

"Huh...why would we need that?

...also...did your gun change color?...i am pretty sure it was not this orange before" Rei, asks as she joins in

"No, i changed the gun i had for this one, has the same type of ammo as with our other guns"

and concerning the net, think about it

We have a military-grade, and more importantly, working vehicle

Packed to the brim with things that a lot of people out there would now kill for

The last thing we want is to have it out in the open for every single idiot to see

For example, we would be better off hiding the car with the camo net inside a small cluster of woods if we need to stop somewhere"

Kohta, who was still staring at my gun spoke up next

"I think i saw some camo nets inside the building they use an armory

Multiple colors too

Sooo...ehh...If you're going back to the armory...

Do you want me to...eheheh...make sure the Scar is in working order?"

To be honest...Kohta's smile...was...way too creepy right now...not to mention he was slowly creeping WAY too close

"Please don't do anything weird to my gun" I say as i sigh and undo the sling before giving the Scar-H to Kohta

Who upon taking it in his hands, runs off to the back seats of the Humvee...

Hugging it like a golum that just found its precious...

(And...he just bailed on carrying the ammo...

Uhh...whatever...)

I turn around and start walking away

"If somebody else is coming to the armory, then come along

I am not crazy enough to try and carry these things by my self" I say as i stop a few meters away and look back

Saeko nods at me and starts moving towards me

"I'll go for the last dynamite box in a bit

I want to take a short break first" Takashi answers as he moved towards the nearest door that led into a house yard

Rei following behind him shortly after without saying a word...

(Hmm..I should change Rei's name to Zeke number two the way she just follows Takashi around

Also...did they just walk into the house...alone...

Are they...

...Nahh i probably just have a fucked up mind)

Saya was now the only one by the car

"Keep Kohta away from the handbrake, please...

Don't want to find this place overrun upon returning..." I say as i look at Saya

She nods at me...with a surprisingly serious expression before moving towards the Humvee's back seats

(Huh...Does she really believe Kohta can be that clumsy?

I understand Shizuka...but ehh...

Whatever better safe than sorry)

And so, i turn around and start walking towards the armory with Saeko next to me

And again...guess what...no talking

So, about midway on our trip, i decided to change that

"Hey, mind if i ask you something?" Saeko turned to me with a questioning 'Hmm'

"Where exactly did you get that sword...?" I ask as turn to her and point at the Katana

She looks at the hilt of the blade before returning her gaze back to me

"Mister Takagi gifted it to me

From what he informed me, my own father used to train him

He gave me the sword as payment...for my father's lessons"

I just kept nodding as she spoke

(Seems the reason stayed the same)

"I see...

Heh...i'm starting to feel sorry for whoever will be stupid enough to get in your way now..."

Saeko just moved her hand over her mouth as she giggled

"I'm pretty sure you would be as fearsome with a blade" She responds

I tilt my head slightly

"Really?" I ask

"Yea...

And i would like to believe that my judgment on the matter has some weight too"

She says as she grabs the katana by the hilt and shakes it lightly

"Well...for now...i guess i will have to stick...to the stick"

I say as i point at the bokken on the side of my bag with my thumb

Saeko looks at the bokken before looking back at me

"I would rather you not call it a stick Naier

It's more than just a stick

The process of crafting a bokken is..."

(Ohh crap...now i've done it

she's about to go Kohta mode on me?)

"I know, my bad, didn't mean to sound disrespectful to whoever spent the time and skill crafting this

Let's just say...wrong wording used to try and lighten the mood"

Saeko stops talking and stares at me

"Why would you need to lighten the mood?

Do you...feel uneasy around me?" She slightly leans towards me as she asks

And...well, even with no street lights...

(...Purple bra...

ughh

...Eyes on the face Naier)

I lift my sight to see Saeko staring at me with a slight smile

(I swear...this girl...)

"...This is a trap question and i refrain from answering"

I fold my arms as i speak

Saeko just leans back to a normal posture and laughs through her nose

"A trap?...how?" She asks

"Because no matter what i answer

We would still end up with an embarrassing moment...for me

And i had enough of these moments for today" I say as i turn to look forward

Saeko just giggled before turning to look ahead as well

With that, we kept moving towards the estate

And as we knew where the armory was this time around, we arrived there way faster compared to last time

Once there I asked Saeko to wait for me by the pile while i spoke with the...uhh Tank top guy

(What's this guy's name away, i keep calling him Tank top guy)

Upon entering the front door i am greeted by a relatively narrow room

Deeper inside i could see a large metal fence that surrounded the inside of the building like a second structure, the fence itself started a meter or so after the corridor like room ended

Our guns were also in the room i was in right now on a table to my right

Along with several open cleaning kits

(Hmm all of our guns are here...didn't expect Kohta to just leave'em

Does he trust this dude so much?

Or did his brain got filled with dancing Scar-Hs?)

I enter the main building to find the tank top guy looking inside some orange-colored boxes, straight ahead and to my left in a metal shelve row that had a big '2' painted on its side

The building itself looked like a normal warehouse...except for...you know, it was full of military stuff

I also spotted a couple of the nets that i needed to my right hanging on the side of the row that had a '5' painted on it

The nets were right under the number itself

(Seriously, where did Souichiro find all this crap?

I won't be surprised if they have a god-dam WII tank stashed in here somewhere

Still...looking at all this...is leaving really such a good idea?

uhh...no...there is nothing i can do about that now, we need to deal with that horde and fast)

I shake my head and walk up to the tank top guy

"Mind if i bother ya for a second?"

The man turns his head to me and motions me to continue with his head

"We will start taking our weapons on the next two runs

And i also have to ask whether we can take a camouflage net for the Humvee" I point at the rolled-up nets that i saw earlier

The man closes the box and moves away from the shelves as he comes up to me and leans to see where i am pointing at

"Huh good thinking, you will be like a walking candy bag out there with all that stuff

Take the ones you need

I also took the liberty and changed the gun you mentioned, left the p220 on the desk with the other guns if you didn't notice"

With that, he turns around and goes back to the orange crates

I nod and move towards the nets

Once there

(Let's see

One with shades of gray

And one with shades of green and brown

I would prefer to go under some trees as they provide additional cover

But it won't hurt to have an extra urban camouflage, just in case)

I grab the two nets and move back to the corridor room

The moment reached the room i head to the table and pick the two rifles before strapping them on me

Then take the second p220, make sure the safety is on before shoving it in my pocket

I also grab two cleaning kits that looked to have the most extras inside before going outside

Saeko was still waiting by the boxes, her arms folded under her chest as she looked at the people in the distance

"Orange or green!" I shout as i walk towards her

She turns to me with a confused look

"...Green?" She replies

"Alright, grab one of the light green crates and open it up for a sec!"

Saeko just nods and does what i asked

After i walk up to her i look at the bullets inside the box

Then take off the magazine of the Ar-10 with one hand and look at the bullets, making sure that they were the correct ones

"Alright, we're good

Let's take this to the Humvee"

Saeko nods and moves to the front of the crate before picking it up

I leave the cleaning kits on the box and grab the other side after pushing the shotgun along with the other two guns that i had strapped on me to my back,

And once again, we headed towards the Humvee

The trip was relatively uneventful this time around

Until halfway there at least, where we saw Takashi, Rei and Kohta walking towards us

The Scar-H still in Kohta's hands

Once they got close

"Only the orange one left?" Kohta asks

"Yea the 9x19 mm's" I answer

"Alright we will get the last crate, as we are finished with the dynamites" Takashi speaks up right after

I just nod before we started moving again

(Did i really that that long inside the warehouse

for them to pass us?)

And after reaching the Humvee, Saya who was there along with Shizuka and Alice helped us put the crate inside the trunk

I then took off the guns and left them in the trunk as well

Leaving only the shotgun and Handgun on me

Before i could even manage to even think of taking a breath though

"Are you all set?"

I turn to the voice to see Saya's mother

"No, we still need one last crate, after that, we will leave" Saya replies

"I...see..."

Yuriko glanced at her daughter before turning around to 'look' for something...

I just shifted my sight between Saya and her mother a few time before letting out a sigh under my breath

(...I'm never taking that frigging break huh..)

I shake my head and walk up to our chundere

"Saya" I whisper to her

"Go talk to your mother properly..."

She turns to me and starts staring

Yet, she does nothing...she just averts her eyes as she starts looking around

(Ohh for fuck's sake, this is not the time to be acting like this ya stupid idiot)

I take a deep breath

"...You can thank me later"

"Huh, wha..."

...Ok...to be honest... i was not really thinking anymore

I just...didn't want to see these two split up like...this...

So i ended up carrying Saya to her mother...After picking her up bridal style

"WHA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!

PUT ME DOWN!

PUT ME DOWN YOU PERVBRT...

Ow..."

Saya amidst her own shouting ended up biting her own tongue

Putting her hand over her mouth as she finally stopped screaming

I carry Saya over to her mother and put her down

Then turn around and start walking away

"Ohh...one last thing" I say as i stop and turn my head slightly to the left

"This is...

A see you soon...

Not a goodbye..."

I then start walking again...and

I guess...my words...weighted heavier than i though

As seconds later, i could hear sniffing

Don't know if it was Saya..or her mother...or both

But by the time i returned to the Humvee and turned around

They were already hugging

(And mission complete)

I turn to see Shizuka staring at me

"Not...a...word...out of you" I say as i look at her

She just gave me a wide smile as she tilted her head and closed her eyes

I sit on the open trunk and just watch the whole event unfold

The horde that was growling an arm's length away from me...i honestly could not even hear it right now

And then...i felt something tugging my pants

(God damn it dog, way to ruin the mo...ohh?)

I look down...but there was no dog there

Instead, it was Alice that was tugging my pants

"I'm...sorry for calling you evil..." I just patted her head as she spoke

"And what makes you think i ain't evil shorty?" I ask as i look at her

"Because...Saya is happy now..."

She answers bluntly as she stares at my face

(Oh crud...

Uhhh nope,

Hold it in...

You are an evil overlord

Guts, blood and shiny meat bicycles...

You do NOT get emotional)

I just kept looking around without speaking

Until my eyes fell on Saeko who had moved away from the group and was standing by her self on the far right corner of the barricade

The moment she saw me looking at her, she just looked down on the street by her feet

And while she was no longer looking at me...

Her facial expression...was pretty clear

(Huh...why does she look so...sad?

I would understand if she was...jealous...if she does indeed...like me...

But...sad?

No...something...is not right here)

While i was thinking

Takashi, Rei and Kohta arrived as well

Along with Souichiro

While...Saya and her mother...they did not seem to really give a single fuck about what was going on around them

As everybody was pretty much staring at them now

Hell...even Souichiro was staring

At least before he turned to look at...me?

...Rei, Takashi and Kohta also turned to stare at me a few seconds later

(Huh...what gives?)

I dart my head around to see Shizuka who was now sitting next to me...Pointing her fingers at me...With both hands...

(Ohh, fer fucks sake)

I grab both her hands and lower them

Only of her to lift them again the moment i let her go

I just shook my head and turned to look at the four that were staring at me

...You know...i do know...that Souichiro does indeed love his daughter

But seeing him smile like that as he watched them

I knew it was something...i would never see again

Souichiro then loudly 'clears' his throat

"Are we ready?" He asks

Saya and Yuriko finally let go after getting the hint

"Yes, once we get the crate that these three have over there in the car, we will be ready to start" I say as i get off the trunk

And point at the crate that Takashi Rei and Kohtwa were holding

Souichiro just nods affirmatively

The three then walked up to the Humvee and load the last crate

While Saya walked up to her father

I saw him moving his mouth, but i could not really hear what he was saying

Saya responded with a nod and turned to us

(Ok...so, all this stuff is, in reality, his...so

I should at the very least thank him)

I walked up Souichiro as Saya turned around to look at me

"Thank you for all your help...

Until we meet again, good luck" I say as i bow

"This was not a favor Naier

This was...forward payment..." He said as he looked at me

(Jee, even now, you gotta act like a total hardass...)

I just nodded before turning to Saya

"You got the notebook?

God knows we are going to need it from now on

Oh and a lighter...for the dynamites" I say to point at the Humvee

"The textbook is in the car

And no...i don't have a lighter...why would i have a lighter?" She replies

(For the dynamites?)

Souichiro then extended his arm towards me

An expensive-looking Zippo lighter in his hand

I nod and take the lighter

"Alright...let's go...no more time left to waste" I turn around and head towards the car

By the time i was in it the whole group other than Saya were already inside as well

Saya her self entered a few seconds after me

I look at the group as i open up a box of dynamite

"You all ready to see how it feels to be part of a really stupid plan?" I say as i wave the dynamite stick at their faces

They all just...stared

"Not a very good thing to say for a pep talk right before we dive into a horde Naier" Takashi responds

I just chuckled as i moved to the roof by climbing out the open hatch

"Story of my life" I say under my breath

And a few seconds later

"Thow the dynamites!"

I hear Souichiro shout

At first, i thought he was talking to me

But then i saw some guards appear in the building to our left

They then tossed a couple of dynamites to the left part of the street where the horde was located at

(Huh when did these guys get there?)

And Seconds later

A loud explosion

Followed by a chain of other, equally loud explosions

Each one lighting up the dark road while bodies got sent flying and flames swallowed whole parts of the horde

And soon after

The horde started gathering to the left as the right part of the road slowly started to clear out

But...as more of horde gathered, they also started pushing against the left side of the barricade

(We got to hurry...before the barricade collapses)

"Again!"

Souichiro shouts

And moments later a second batch of dynamites gets sent flying towards the amassing horde

Frankly speaking with the number of corpses that got sent flying by the explosion, i thought about getting back inside the Humvee

Lest a flying corpse ended up in my face

(How retarded would it be if i got bitten by a flying head?)

Yet my thought got interrupted shortly after when

"GO! GO!" Takashi started shouting

I turn to look at the right part of the street to see it clear

And seconds later

The wheels of the Humvee screech

And with a violent shake, the Humvee moves forward after grinding its sides against the barricade blocks

I grab the open hatch door to keep my self steady...

The moment i regained my footing

I let go of the door and flip the lighter's top cover

And with a flick of the wrist, i light up the dynamite before pulling my arm back

"YOU DON'T DIE TODAY! YOU DIE EVERYDAY!" I shout as i throw the dynamite to my left

Seconds later a loud explosion sends even more corpses flying

I turn back to see that the corpses by the barricade were also starting to slowly turn around and crawl towards us

(It's working)

I look back inside the Humvee

"Don't mean to bother but.."

Before i could finish Kohta had already shoved a dynamite to my face

"You, just got promoted" I say as i grab the dynamite and look back out

I light the dynamite up and throw it to the left again

Seconds later, another explosion

I turn to pick another dynamite

Yet the moment i got it in my hands

"Slow down!"

I hear Saya shout

Seconds later Shizuka hits on the brakes

Hard...

And...guess who was not holding on something...

Yea

Me

I ended up sliding over the roof and on to the car's hood

While i was on my little sliding trip, i looked over the hood to see that part of the horde had moved back to the right side of the road

The moment my boots touched the hood i light up the dynamite, take a step and toss it forward and slightly to the left

Then i turn around and jump back on to the roof

And see Kohta who had almost climbed up on the roof himself

"Are you ok?!" He shouts

"We need a second person to throw dynamites to open the road while we still keep tossing dynamites to the left to make the horde come after us" I say as i kneel down

"I got the left side!" He shouts...right to my face, as he tosses me another dynamite

I nod and turn to see the horde that was still blocking the road

"Would you kindly...move the fuck out of my way!"

I light up the dynamite in my hand and once again toss it forward and to my left

The explosion that followed some seconds later caused the horde that blocked the way to thin out even more

Seconds later i heard a second explosion to my left

I turn around to see Kohta ducked down into the car

He pop-ups a second later and passes me another dynamite

The moment it was in my hands, i light it up and throw it to the same spot i threw the last two

And finally after the following explosion

I could see the road ahead

I slap my arm on the roof and shout

"Step on it!

We are getting out of here, now!"

And the car starts picking up speed, heading straight towards the opening

Kohta threw one more dynamite before we finally managed to break through the horde

He then ducked back inside the car again

The moment he got out i wave at him to get his attention

"After this one tell Shizuka to use the horn and not to drive too fast, we still need to bait the horde away from the estate

We will use a stick of dynamite again when we want to get rid of the horde" I say as i look back at the corpses

Kohta nods before turning to throw the last dynamite with a grin

I then turn to look at the road ahead

Needless to say...

Every single corpse in the surrounding area was walking towards us

(Hmm the corpses that are heading towards us will probably end up bumping into the horde that is following us

I suspect the moment they do that they will turn around and become part of it

But just to be safe)

I slide to the center of the roof and look inside through the open hatch

While Kohta was telling Shizuka to use the horn

"On first chance, also take a turn away from the road that leads to the barricade

That way we won't make the corpses that are in front of us walk towards the barricade

They would probably just assimilate to the horde and change direction...but i don't want to take any chances"

Shizuka just nods as she keeps looking ahead

I nod and pull my self up again

And turn to look at the horde that was following us

I could also see several light sources behind the horde itself, over the barricade

There was a new structure that was being erected where the hole used to be at

(We...did it...

...I...did it...

The estate still stands and we are moving away...)

I found my self smiling as i looked at the barricade that started to fade away behind all the corpses that were slowly taking the street back

I then turn around and stare ahead at the road that was illuminated only by the Humvee's lights

(It doesn't look like it will get much darker than this...)

I nod to my self as i slide towards the hatch

(Still...there is something else that is bothering me now...

...If i know anything about this world...

Is that it will use whatever reason it has to follow the anime...

All that dynamite would be the perfect excuse to try and block us off while we try to head to the mall...

Then again...we got the Humvee and not that flimsy six-wheeled...thing

And dynamite...Lots of dynamite)

With that out of my mind, i enter the car

After taking a seat next to the left-back door window i turn to the group

"Everybody still in one piece?" I ask

"Yea we are all fine" Takashi replies

I nod do him and turn to look out of the window

(From now on..all i can do i hope that the estate won't fall while we are not present...

Still...it took a god damn E.M.P blast along with a bus crashing into the barricade to make the estate fall

Now that we are past the initial E.M.P

The chance that the estate survives is much higher

As it won't be caught with its pants down)

And...so

The moment i accepted that whatever happens to the estate is now beyond my reach...and that we left it in a much better state considering the anime and manga...

I felt all my energy drain out of me

"If you all don't mind...i think i will take that break now..."

I say as i lean my head against the window frame and close my eyes

(Because...we are far from over...

And i need that god damn break...)


	23. Parking space

When was the last time i did nothing?

You know...leaving the rest of the group to deal with whatever crap got in our way?

...Now that i think about it, if we exclude some minor moments...never

I always did do something...

So...this must be a first

I mean, i fell asleep shortly after we left the estate

And...the horde was still following us...meaning that we were not out of the woods yet when i decided to pass out

But hey... i ain't no one-man-army, i can let somebody else deal with this crap once in a while...and well...we were inside the Humvee, so it's not like i bailed on them at an important moment or something

Then again...maybe i'm just thinking like this right now because i am half asleep and don't give a single fuck about anything

But...you know what they say

All good things must come to an end...

As the moment my brain realized i was self-conscious, it started bugging me...telling me that i needed to think of a plan for the events that will take place in the mall...

Annoying as it may be...i knew that it was right...

I move my head slightly and take a deep breath while still keeping my eyes closed

(...uhhh...

I don't even want to open my eyes...good thing i can think with my eyes closed...

...So...

Uhhhh...right

The Mall...

Asami and Kohta...

Shizuka and the rapist

Granny and the clinic

And the extraction helicopters along with the mall getting overrun

If i'm not forgetting something...that should sum up the major events that take place there...

So...let's take things one step at a time now...

First of all...

Is getting...uhh

...There?...

Oh, Shit!... Saeko, Takashi, split, shrine, fuck!

FUCK!)

I dart my eyes open and move my head slightly to the right as i scan the car's interior

Other than the fact that the sun was up

Saeko was sitting next to me with Rei on her right

Takashi was sitting next to Rei

And Kohta was sitting next to Takashi by the car's door, the Scar-H still in his hands

Yea, five people in the back seats...

Explains why Saeko is pretty much...stuck to my side...

Not that i'm complaining mind you

I breathe a silent sigh of relief as i close my eyes again

(Ok...either i did not happen...or i did not happen...yet

But the sun is out, normally Saeko and Takashi spend the night in that shrine...and...uhh...yea

Ok..so...now that i am fully awake and that is out of my mind

...Back to the task at hand

The mall...

Let's start with the cop girl that Asami idolizes...She, probably left yesterday evening to find help based on what the manga showed...

And if she was a wandering corpse right outside the mall...that means she didn't get too far before she got bit...

As i find it hard to believe that she would try to return to the mall after she got infected...

The way Asami kept on saying how that woman was supposed to be an awesome cop

I'd think she would understand the moral impact it would have if she was seen as a walking corpse...

Especially if she was the only hope they had for a rescue...

So...my chances of saving her are sadly...probably gone...as she might be already dead by now...

Best i can do...is find her before the others see her and finish her off...if she really is a corpse

Next...

Asami and Kohta

And what i can count as the main deal with this whole situation...

She will have a huge impact on Kohta...and in the end, she does give him some clear signs that she likes him, which he returns...i think?

In any case, i need to make sure she survives...by any means necessary

Even if that ends with me tying her up to a chair...and locking her in a god damn storage room

Also, Kohta no longer has the cop gun to make his first move on Asami as i gave it for the p220...not a very smart move now that i think about it...

But...hmm...i can hide one p220 in my bag, say that i forgot it there

Then get these two and tell her that Kohta found it and figured a cop would be better off with it...or even better give it to Kohta so he can give it to her him self...things should go on 'normally' after that

Then...we have Shizuka...

...As much as i want to stop the whole thing from happening...even if Shizuka seemed to be none the wiser after the whole ordeal...

This needs to happen...as Kohta pretty much makes Asami fall for him then and there...

And...then we have the trip for the blood and the helicopters...

Not a lot i can do for these two...

The granny will need then blood...so we either go to the clinic...or let her die...simple as that

One of the survivors from the mall also dies in the clinic if i remember correctly...

And last but definitely not least...the helis

I could hypothetically get us all extracted...

But...

We don't get to meet Rei's mother like that...

And quite possibly her father in the elementary school

Not to mention that when the group found her she was in a...kind of a tight situation

But...that is still far off...got to focus on the things that will happen before that)

Keeping my eyes closed i stopped thinking and listened to the engine hum as the humvee drove down the highway

I stayed like that for some time

Until

"We are almost out of the highway

The mall shouldn't be too far from here"

Opening my eye again i see Rei talking

"I just hope we drove the horde far enough"

Takashi responds

"They will be fine...

My Papa is more than capable of handling this

We should be more focused on our problems..."

Saya who was on the front passenger's seat turns to look at Takashi, the textbook in her left hand

"...Saya..."

Was the only thing Takashi said

(I never really understood that...

Why say a person's name and then just stare at them like some sort of retarded monkey?)

"Saya is right Takashi

We should focus on our problems"

Saeko responds

I shift my eyes towards the window

Only to see the shopping mall slowly coming into view

"Like for the fact that you are driving straight to the mall with the car?"

I say as i stare outside

"Hmm?

Ohh...

Naier, good morning"

Saeko was the first one to speak

I nod as lift my head away from the window

I could hear my neckbones crack as i moved it about

"Humm...About time you woke up

Leaving us to do all the work while you were off dreaming like an idiot"

Saya...was the second one...

"Yea...i love you too"

I respond groggily as i close my eyes and put my left hand behind my neck

And the moment i opened my eyes again...

The textbook was flying straight towards my face...

(Oh come on, Again!?...)

I slap the book to my legs

"This is important information here, don't just toss it around Saya"

I say as i pick up the textbook and extend the arm that held it towards her

She just responds with her usual huffy tone as she yanks the textbook from my hand and looks back towards the front of the car

(Jee, you don't have to like me THAT much)

"Uhh...Still...slow down the car, we are closing in to the mall

And there is a good chance that it might have survivors inside...

Lots of food and materials to be used

And relatively easy to fortify if compared to what it has inside"

I say as i look back out the window

"So what do we do?

Walk all the way there?"

Takashi asks

"The surrounding area has a good amount of tree clusters that can be used to conceal the car

So, take a wider approach towards the Mall, don't drive straight to it

We will park the car into a patch of trees after we get relatively close

Just remember to close the engine the before we actually stop

Less chance for the car to get surrounded by corpses like that"

Shizuka nods after i was done speaking and turns the Humvee to the right at the next intersection, going over a bridge as there was a river to our right

"Keep going straight then turn left a couple of intersections later, we can use the buildings as cover while we close in to the mall"

Shizuka does as i asked and turns left two intersections later

"Don't you think you are, kind of overthinking this?"

Rei speaks up as i stared at the mall

"I'd rather overthink this than end up looking from a distance, while a bunch of good for nothings drives off with our car and supplies"

I say as i turn to her

Rei does not respond and neither does anybody else

Guess visualizing what i just said hit home

"After we park...then what?"

Kohta asks after a short silence

"I think we should leave our guns here for starters

If the mall has survivors inside..."

Takashi answers

I turn to Kohta who just nodded without much of a fuss...he is the last person who would want to lose the guns after all

"By the way...how long do you intend to keep hogging my Scar-H Kohta?"

I ask as i keep looking at him

He then turns to me

"But...you have the shotgun, don't be greedy "

He answers

"And you have the Ar-10...don't be needy"

I answer back

Yet before either of us could continue

"UGHH...do NOT start acting like a bunch of kids that are fighting over toys"

Saya says with a groan as she keeps looking at the street ahead

I look at her before turning to look back at Kohta who gives me a rather smug smile

(Ohhh i will get my gun back, you can count on that buddy)

...So, after several minutes and crushed corpse skulls later...

We were by the right side of the mall

With no visible windows on this side, i nod to my self and speak up

"Alright the mall is straight to our left now

And i don't see any windows on this side

So turn left and keep going until we see a good cluster of trees we can drive the car into"

Shizuka nods once again as she lowers her head slightly

Probably trying to focus...

She then turns left

The mall was now a straight line from here

The road ahead, other than being littered with corpses and the occasional car

Was relatively clear and surrounded by houses and greenery

My target

Anything with enough trees that we could use to hide the car inside

(I would rather go into a small park rather than a cluster of trees next to a sidewalk

But the problem is that the only place matching the description of a park is next to the mall's open field...or well...what used to be a parking lot

So no, too close for comfort)

So instead i stabbed a rather big cluster of trees that stood a couple of intersections down the road

I kept staring at that spot as Shizuka drove over the river once more

And after we closed in

I got up and leaned between the two front seats of the car

"That place looks good

Drive there and shut down the engine once we get close"

I say as i point at the cluster that was to our left with my finger

Shizuka nods

While Saya just stared at me before slightly leaning away from me

I turn towards Saya to see Alice sitting on her lap

With Zeke in one hand, she starts waving at me

"Hey there shorty, young cadet"

I respond

The dog upon hearing the word cadet barks at me

Alice then hugs the dog with both hands

"Zeke is not a cadet, because you are no longer evil"

She says with a wide grin

"Ohh...

Damn...i need to get my evil overlord vibes back on...before i start shooting rainbows like some other dude i know..."

I say as i look back towards our soon to be parking space

I could feel...Saya staring even more intensely at me now...along with several other gazes on my back

"Rain...bows?"

I hear Saeko ask

"It's...nothing Saeko... really"

Takashi responds

(Says the valiant knight of rainbows and sunshine)

...While i really wanted to say that...now...was not that time...

As we were closing in on the trees i had pointed out

"Alright...You see the open space between the trunks over there to our left?

Climb over the sidewalk, turn off the engine and let the car roll through there"

Shizuka just nodded as i spoke

And so the moment the Humvee 'bumped' over the sidewalk she shut down the engine

And let the car slide into the cluster of trees

"Good, first opening you see, turn the car either left or right so nobody can see it from the opening we just used"

Shizuka does as i said again and turns to the car to the right and lets it roll, until she presses on the brake

"Can't go any further, or we will bump into the trees"

She says as she turns to me

I nod and turns to the group behind me

"Alright, I will get the net...

Somebody needs to check that the surroundings are clear of corpses

But most importantly, that we did not get spotted by any other survivors"

Saeko nods and exits the car through the door on her left

Followed by Rei and Takashi

They then looked around for a bit

Until

"Looks clear

I can see some of them coming towards us...but i can't see any people"

Rei speaks up

Kohta then moves to exit the car

"Kohta...guns..."

I say as i stare at him

He turns to me

"Ohh...right"

And then leaves the Schar-H on the seat along with the Ar-10 before exiting the vehicle

Saya puts the textbook in her bag before leaving the car with Alice

And lastly, Shizuka takes the keys out of the ignition and opens the driver's door

"Miss Shizuka"

I call out to her

She turns to me and tilts her head

"Can i have the car keys?

You...uhh...don't have any pockets

And i would rather not leave them in a bag"

I say as i point at her dress

(I also don't want mister rapist to find them by accident while he tries to cop a feel)

She then looks down on her skirt...

Or well...tried to...you know...her breasts are kinda massive

So, after a couple of awkward seconds...she just nodded and gave me the keys

And then exited the vehicle

The only one left inside now...was me

(Alright let's get to work)

I take the two rifles that Kohta left, along with my shotgun and the M1-A1 and hide them in the trunk

Under some bags and sheets that were stashed in there

I then take the urban camo net, open it and hide the contents of the trunk itself

(While the trunk has no glass window on it...you can still see the contents from the front windshield and door windows

If we are unlucky enough and somebody finds the car

Hiding what it has inside might deter them from trying to break-in

Even if it's obvious that the car has something inside leaving the guns in plain is be much worse)

I then take my bag off and open it

(Why didn't i take this thing off before falling asleep?)

And after i quickly glanced at the rest of the group and made sure they were not looking towards me

I take the first P220 along with its holster and shove it in the bag

Then take the second P220 that was still in my pocket and put it in the bag as well

And finally, i push both the guns and belt to the bottom of the bag, beneath all the clothes, map and whatever other crap that was stuffed inside

(Alright, let's get going...)

I strap the bag on me and exit the car, camo net in hand

And walk to the front door

(Good thing this Humvee can lock its doors...)

I think as i lock the car and unwrap the net

I then start covering one side of the car until Kohta came over and helped me cover the other side

After we were done i join the group and turn to look at the car

"Hmm...Not bad, there is a constant shade from the surrounding trees

And the camo net blends in nicely with the surrounding area"

I say as i nod and fold my arms

The next thing i heard...

Was a loud thud, followed by a 'cracking' sound

I turn around to see Saeko standing over a corpse

"We need to move"

She says as she looks at the other corpses that were slowly shambling towards us

We all nod and run past the fallen corpse before turning to the left the moment we reached the sidewalk

And then went left again after reaching the intersection

The Mall was now just one intersection away

And thankfully, we also had a building that obstructed the trees that we hid the car into, so it was pretty well covered from any prying eyes that might reside in the mall

I grab the bokken and pull it out from the side of my bag

Then run towards a nearby stop sign that was to my right and take a strong swing at it

While the metal pole echoed from the impact

I turned around to look at the corpses that were heading towards the parked Humvee

"Alright, that got their attention"

I say as i start running back towards the group

"We should not waste any more time here, let's go!"

Takashi motions with his hand as he starts running

And like that

The group starts running towards the mall

I run up to them and join Takashi, Rei and Saeko in the 'front line', taking the rightmost spot

"We got a plan or we just beat the crap out of everything till we get there?"

I ask as we kept on running

"Beating the crap out of everything IS the plan!"

Takashi responds

I shift my sight to Saeko to see her smiling eerily as she slowly drew her blade from its sheath

(Oh crap, sword)

Was the only thing i managed to think before she dashed ahead of us and slashed the head off from the first corpse she got close to

She then sidesteps towards a corpse to her right, slides behind it and kicks it on the back of its knees, decapitating it while it was still kneeling down

"Saeko behind you!"

Takashi shouts

She just grins as she spins in place and sends another head flying

(Holy crabs...i actually fought against...that?

Why i'm not dead again?)

I shake my head and run up to Saeko...or well...i tried to

As in the in end...all the group did was run after her as she dashed from corpse to corpse

And like that, we crossed the last intersection and headed towards the mall

Upon reaching the end of the road we moved into the field that led to the Mall, Saeko still several meters ahead of us

We could also see a door that led into the building in about sixty to seventy meters straight from here

With no corpses blocking the way, we all started running towards that door

All of us...

But one

Saeko, instead of going straight, charged towards the left, aiming at a mass of corpses that had gathered at the left part of the field that led to the front part of the mall

And when i say gathered corpses...i mean as in a mini horde, about twenty or thirty of them gathered all together...

"Saeko!"

Takashi shouts once more

But his shout

Fell on deaf ears

As she just kept running straight towards the mass of corpses

(God damn it! Stupid crazy suicidal psychopath!)

I yank my bag off and toss it at whoever was next to me

And then dash straight towards Saeko

(Stupid! Fucking! Crazy!

Arghh! I'm going to kill me if you die here!)

Even if i was not really that much faster than her

She kept stopping to take out whatever corpse was near

So...

I thankfully managed to catch up to before she could get too close to the mass of corpses

Upon closing in on her and while she still had her back turned to me i grab her sword arm by the forearm

She instantly turns around as she tries to yank her arm away while aiming to take a swing at my neck with her blade

Keeping my grip on her arm i forcefully pull it up and towards me

Causing her forehead to almost hit my neck and her sword passed over my head

I put my free hand under her chin and lift her head until i could see her face

"Wrong direction! Saeko!"

I shout at her face

She...just stared at me as she kept panting

I bring my hand to the back of her neck and bring her face closer to mine, to the point that her forehead was almost touching my mask

"Snap out of it...

Or we both die here"

She kept looking at my mask for a couple of seconds

Until her eyes finally went wide

Her mouth slightly open

"I..."

She begins to speak

"Not now, we got to move, before we get swarmed"

I say as i turn around and drag her behind me

Saeko...comes to her senses a couple of seconds later and picks up the pace as i start feeling less resistance coming from her as we run

The moment we reached the group

"...What...was that?

What just happened?"

Rei asks

Saeko just stayed quiet, Slightly turning her head away from the group

"She didn't see the door...

She thought we were going through the front gate"

I say as i let go of Saeko's arm and turn to Rei

"What, but..."

Rei was about to start talking again

"No time, she took the wrong way, we are fine now, so let's go"

Takashi cuts her off

Much to Rei's dismay as she turns to stare at him with a frown

"Come on we have to move!"

He says as he quickly starts running towards the door

We started running after him shortly after

I give Saeko a quick glance as i run

(This...can't be good)

And once we reached the door

"Barricaded...somebody was here before us"

I say as i look at the clutter that was blocking the door from the inside

"What...do we do now?...Back to the car?"

Shizuka asks while she kept holding Alice with one hand

Who was, in turn, holding Zeke under her free arm

Before i could speak up

"Huh wait, i think i can see somebody inside"

Takashi responds as he starts shouting and waving his arms towards the door

The figure, after apparently seeing us, froze in place and started fidgeting about

Before finally deciding to run up to the door

And lo and behold, Asami in all her third-person cop glory

(Well...this was easy)

"W..wait! Asami will let you in, don't panic, don't panic!"

(...You're the one who is panicking here shorty...)

She hastily and quite clumsily takes the clutter away from the door as we looked at the corpses that were shambling towards us

Still, they were thankfully too far for any real cause of alarm

And the moment the door opened, we all got inside

We then slammed the door shut and started re-barricading it

"Thank you"

Takashi nods at Asami as he takes a few deep breaths and puts his hands on his knees after we were done blocking the door

"It's alright, it's Asami's job to protect civilians"

She says with a smile

The group just stared at her for a while

Until

"You're...a Police officer...

Do you know Tadashi Miyamoto?

He's a police detective

Is he alive?

Do you know where he is?"

Rei almost walks into Asami as she barrages her with questions

Asami puts her hands forward as droplets of sweat start running down her forehead

She closes her eyes and smiles awkwardly

"I...i'm sorry Asami...she doesn't know"

I just shake my head

"What she meant to say is

Her name is Rei Miyamoto

I'm Naier Sepfier

The guy next to her is Takashi Komuro

Behind her is our school nurse Shizuka Marikawa

Next to Shizuka is Alice Maresato

And next to Alice is...uhh...the cadet"

I say as i point at the dog

"His name is Zeke!"

Alice shouts as she puffs her cheeks

The rest of the group then goes on to introduce them selfs

"This police officer is Asami Nakoaka"

She says as she...salutes? at us with a smile

Kohta ended up being the only one returning that salute

"We should head inside, staying by the door will attract them"

Takashi speaks up shortly after as he points at the door

With that, we started going down the relatively dark corridor

And as we walked

"Uhhh...where is my bag?"

I ask as i realized that i just tossed it before chasing after Saeko

Only to have it land on the left side of my head shortly after

I grab the bag and dart my head to the left only to see Saya glaring at me as she puffed up her cheeks

"Watch where you throw your stuff, you idiot...

And what do you even have in there..."

She says as she massages the right part of her forehead

"Uhh...You know...stuff.."

I say as i casually throw the bag over my shoulder

Ignoring the obviously annoyed chundere as she glared at me

And so like that, we moved to the center part of the mall

Once we were there

"Asami has to make sure nothing happened with all this commotion, so she will have to leave now"

She bows at us and turns around

...Before turning to us again

"If you need anything, tell Asami!"

She says with a smile before running off

And now, we were left in the middle of the mall's central room

After a few moments of silence

"We should spread out, check the place out

Make sure it's safe, see what we can find in here"

Takashi speaks up

The group nods before slowly splitting up

Saya and Kohta left towards the market area

Takashi went up the stairs along with Alice

Rei following Takashi while Zeke followed Alice

Shizuka trotted off by her self...

(Alright...

I need to figure out what to do with Kohta...

Got to give him the gun so he can give it to Asami

But without making him think that i'm interested in her...because i am doing this for him

Not to get Asami infatuated with me)

I look around to see that i was the only one left now

(Huh where did Saeko go?

I didn't see her leave)

I dart my head around to see her going up an escalator

Several meters straight and slightly to the right from where i was standing

(...I need to get to Kohta...but...

The little stunt she just pulled...

She better not try to do something stupid now...

I will check on her...then go to Kohta)

And so...from a relatively safe distance, i followed Saeko as she slowly walked up the stairs

After that, she kept walking around the second floor aimlessly before stopping to enter a store to her right

(...Alright...no more creepy stalking)

I think as i walked towards the store that Saeko entered

But... i never managed to get there

"Ey! Naier!"

I hear someone shout from behind

(Ohh for fuck's sake, have better timing next time, please)

I turn around to see Takashi waving at me

I glance back at the store that Saeko just walked into

(I want to make sure Saeko is fine...

But...i don't think bringing everybody to her is a good idea...)

I sigh under my breath and start walking towards Takashi

(Hope she won't do anything stupid while i am not looking...)


	24. A town of shops

I'm getting some really intense dead rising vibes from this place...

Because...you know...zombies and Shopping malls

(Still, wouldn't it be funny if the granny here actually had a dog?

Heh...Now that i think about it...can animals even get infected?

I know corpses are attracted to the sounds they make

Like, the way little ol'Zeke got a horde right outside of Rika's house

Yet i have not seen a single animal corpse yet...

Walking or otherwise...and i think should be glad about that too...

The last thing i need is resident evil zombie dogs...

Yea...jumping through windows and being able to run faster than your average human?

...No fucking thank you...

...But in any case...time to get back to it)

I get up from the cushioned bench i was sitting on and exit the store that i decided to take a break in

Which also happened to be the same store that i saw Saeko enter before Takashi interrupted me, yet...

Sadly by the time i got here, Saeko was nowhere to be seen

As...after Takashi dragged me along to check the barricaded doors, a good one hour had passed

During that time, Rei left too...

Saying that she wanted to check the stores for things that we could use

...Though i think she just got salty because she wanted to be alone with Takashi...

And apparently, he was too dense to get the memo

(...Still, if both Rei and Saeko disappeared...

Could they be at the bike store like in the manga?

Hmm...I did spot such a store while i was walking with Takashi...so

...Yea...let's go check that out, i want to make sure that Saeko is still in the building...)

I nod to my self and start walking down the second-floor walkway

(The store was on the second floor, so if i keep going straight from here i should find it on my left )

While i kept walking i looked to my right, over the railing and at the floor below, to see some of the other survivors strolling about

I could not make out who was what though, other than the fact that they were all guys

(So far i didn't have to interact with any of them...and honestly...i aim to keep it that way too)

After a couple of minutes, i also spotted Kohta, Saya, Alice and Takashi down there, speaking near the entrance of a store

Shortly after i saw Takashi and Kohta walking away while Saya left with Alice in the opposite direction

(Kohta is done with the store? That means he must be heading towards the bike store along with Takashi right?

Hmm...yeah, that could work)

I pick up the pace and keep moving forward

And in the end, thankfully, i was right

As after i got near the bike store, i saw both Rei and Saeko inside

(She is still here, good)

Before i could take another step though, i saw Takashi and Kohta pop up from the stairs that were to my right

Some seconds later Rei called out to Takashi

And he along with Kohta walked inside the store

(Nobody realized that i was here?...eh...meh whatever)

I turned around and walked towards the nearest bench

(I'll just wait for them to finish, don't feel like joining in anyway)

After i sat down I took off my bag, open it and looked inside

(Uhh...why did i leave all these god damn clothes in here...got to leave them in the humvee first chance i get...

...at least they work well enough at hiding the two handguns for now)

I then take the bokken off the bag's side and look at the wooden blade

(Hmm...Wonder how sturdy this thing is...

The one that Saeko used didn't even have a scratch on it, even after she went nuts on multiple corpses with it)

I strap the bokken back on the bag's side and lean my back on the wall behind me

Several minutes later, the guys finally got out of the store

This time, they did end up seeing me after they walked out

"Oh, Naier!" Kohta waves at me as he shouts

I turn my head and look at the two guys as they moved towards me

"Found anything useful?" He asks the moment he got near

"Not yet, but i am interested in checking any electronic stores in this place

As i have the feeling that the other group might have discarded everything in there as busted" I reply as i fold my arms

"Hmm...but if we find anything that works...Won't the other group demand that we hand it over?

They have already laid claim to everything in here" Takashi responds

I just...chuckle as i get up and throw the bag over my shoulder

"If they find out...yes...So we just make sure that they don't"

I reply as i motion the two guys with my head and start walking

"Well...look who just became ruthless" I hear Kohta say as he laughs through his nose

"What you mean 'became', i'm an evil overlord buddy, ask mister rainbow knight if you don't believe me" I say as i turn around and point at Takashi

Who just rolls his eyes and shakes his head

"Uhh...You actually said something like that back in the car as well...What gives?" Kohta asks as he scratches his head

I jerk my shoulders lightly as i let out a dry laugh

"Ehh it's a long story, with the short version being...

Alice though i was trying to make Zeke my evil...minion?

So she asked Takashi for help, meaning he became the good hero in the equation" I say with a shrug

Kohta just chuckled as he tilted his head

"Don't you think Zeke is a little...too fluffy to be an evil minion?" He responds as he looks at me and folds his arms

"Well...i would not say no a sarcastic, sentient ninja robot dog" I say as i turn away from the two and start walking down the stairs

We went on with some mindless chatter for some time as we roamed about on the first floor

Until...

"Where is the help we have been promised?!

You can't keep us in here like prisoners while you do nothing!"

The three of us stop in our tracks and turn towards the shouting voice

"B...but...Asam...this Officer is still a new police officer she..."

"I don't care! You are a cop! So do your god damn job and protect us!" Another female voice interrupts Asami

While the voices came from the store next to us, i could not see any people in the store...maybe they were in the staff room?

"Is that supposed to be a meeting...or a screaming blame fest?" I say as i frown

"All they are doing is dump their problems on the officer" Takashi responds

"And the fact she's outnumbered everybody to one does not help either..." Kohta adds right after

"Well then...think it's about time we repaid her for letting us in?" I say as i turn to the guys

They both grin slightly as they look at each other before they shift their sight to me

"Got a plan?" Kohta asks

"As a matter of fact my friend, i do...And you are the main part of it" I say as i point at Kohta, take off my bag and kneel down

Kohta folded his arms as he stared at me with his head slightly tilted

"Pop quiz time" I speak up as put my hand in the bag

"What can a cop have and it's normally considered illegal to own in japan?" I say as i reach the bottom of my bag

Both guys narrowed their eyes as they started thinking...or...well Takashi did

"Guns" Kohta responded almost instantly

"Two points for you...

Now, what was our dear cop missing?" I ask again as i pull out the P220

"A gun..." Takashi responds as he looks at the handgun

"Correct" I say as i get up and walk up to Kohta

"You found this on the ground outside, and You thought a cop would be better off with it" I say as i give the gun to Kohta

And before he could respond

"Pay attention to the 'You' in this Kohta

We must not make them realize that we, as a group, would give away a gun

You are the gun expert here, make a connection with the gun and the police force and then, 'return' it to her" I say as i take a step back

Kohta start grinning like a madman

"I have mixed feelings about giving away the gun...But...

Heh...i got you covered, Asami will be rocking a new handgun by the time i'm done" He says as he looks at me with the grin still on his face

I nod, return to my bag, close it and pick it up

"Alright, better if we are not seen all gathered out here then, so, i am going to go deal with some unfinished business" I say as i turn my back to them, wave my arm and start walking away

(Alright, that should settle that matter)

I nod to my self and wear the bag on one shoulder then move towards the nearest escalator

(Now...i REALLY need to find Saeko...)

And so, i returned to the bike store...only to have the same result as before

(Fucking figures)

It was empty

I sigh under my breath and start wandering around the second floor again

Hoping to find our crazy purple-haired Samurai mid-way

(Ok...let's see...Saeko looked...shaken up after what happened in the parking field

So if i was a sadistic, yet possibly slightly depressed person...where would i be...

Roof?...hmmm

The giant windowed wall on the front part of the mall?

Smashing up mirrors in the toilets?

Uhh...she could be anywhere but...

...Well i got nothing to lose, so let's start with the windowed wall as it's the closest one)

With that, i continue walking on the second-floor walkway towards the front part of the building, where the giant glass wall was visible from here

Upon reaching the end of the walkway i turn to the left

With the glass wall to my right now, i look at the walkway ahead

And...

( Holy crabs...well, that was fast, I should be a friggin detective or something)

Saeko was leaning against the railing as she stared outside, at the corpses on the parking field

(Ok...Naier

Do NOT fuck this up...Or you're so fired)

I take a deep breath and walk towards Saeko

She...must have been really out of it

As she didn't even react when i leaned on the railing next to her

"How are you holding up?" I ask as i stare at the corpses bellow

Saeko turns to look at me before lowering her head and looking back at the corpses

"I'm...sorry" Was the only thing she said

I laugh lightly through my nose

"Don't be, mistakes happen...or did you forget all the bad calls i made so far?" I respond

"Yours were diferent...I..."

"Nothing is different Saeko, you made a bad call in the heat of the moment

And...i don't know about the rest, but from my side at least...

I am actually more bothered to see you down in the dumps like this"

I say as lean even more on the railing before springing my self back and turn around, leaning my lower back on the railing as i cross my legs

Saeko just turns to look at me

A slight smile appearing on her lips as she turns her sight back towards the field

"Should you really...be this forgiving?" She says as she keeps looking at the shambling corpses outside

"Only when that person deserves it" I answer back

"But...maybe i don't des..."

Yet before she could finish

"Saeko! Naier!"

A childish voice interrupts her mid-sentence

I turn my head to the left to see Alice running towards a with a panicked expression

The moment she got close she drops her hands to her knees and starts taking deep breaths

"Sh...Shizuka...is in big trouble!" With her hands still on her knees, she shouts before either of us could speak

I turn to look at Saeko

Her glum expression disappears as she nods at me

"Where?" I ask as i turn to Alice

"The store with all the beds and pillows" She responds as she points her hand behind her, at a store that was towards the left part of the building

I nod and give Saeko one last glance before breaking into a sprint

(It should be fine...Asami should have the gun...

And Kohta should be able to deal with this...He better be...

Because if that guy as much as touches Shizuka while i am there...

I'm going to rip the nerves out of his fucking skin)

It must have taken me less than a minute to actually get there

And the moment i entered the store

I saw Shimada sitting on the corner of the bed with a shit-eating grin

Staring at Asami as she pointed the gun at him

Shizuka was on the other side of the bed, her pants unbuttoned and her blouse over her chest, which she was trying to cover with her hands

I look around the store as walk up to Asami

(The rest of the group is not here yet...Hmm?)

As i got close Shimada turns to me and raises an eyebrow

"Huh, and what are you supposed to be?

The group's clown?

Or are you that ugly that you need a mask to even walk around?"

(Great...donkey talk)

The guy started laughing through his teeth as he pointed the knife at me

"Say ugly, I will do ya a favor

Get that gun off that stupid cop bitch and i will let you use the front hole" He says as he points the knife behind him

Shizuka's eyes go wide as she turns her sight to me and starts violently shaking her head

While Asami started darting her head between me and Shimada...clearly in panic

I just let out a deep sigh

"Is your brain always a dumpster fire?

Or it's just a 'now' moment because it got overridden by your dick?" I 'ask' as i tilt my head

Shimada's eyebrow twitches lightly as his grin turns into a scowl

"Ohh, so you think you are a fucking hero ahh, fuckface?

Maybe i should fuck that bitch right in front of you, maybe that will teach you what happens when clowns like you run their mouth" He says as he slowly gets up from the bed and glares at me

Yet, he does not move any further

"Just!...Stop this already!" Asami cries out as the gun keeps shaking in her hands

By now, both groups had gathered here

"Clown huh...

Heh...let this clown tell you what will happen then...

Either...you stop this by your self...here and now

Or...

You get stopped by force...

Yet, know that if we have to resort to force to stop you...

...Don't expect to be forgiven"

The guy then just starts laughing...hard

"Forgiven?! Why would i want to be forgiven by you fuckshits?

You know! Maybe i should fuck the rest of your little group while i am at it!

These bitches are probably wasting away if the only thing they have around is guys like you!" He says as he points his knife at me and slowly steps away from the bed

I...just smiled under my mask

"Because...

Your dumpster-fire of a brain just done and fucked up" I say as i fold my arms

And then, a shadow behind him

A thin shining line going over his head and warping around his neck

Followed by the sound of...

Choking...

I had seen Kohta hiding behind some mattresses a little further away from the bed that Shizuka was on for some time now

And the moment mister 'thinking with your dick' got far enough from the bed

Kohta run-up on it and...well we got where we are now

Shimada drops the knife as he starts clawing at his neck

The rest of the whole thing played out 'normally'

Kohta 'asked' Shimada to listen to what the police officer has to say before kicking him to the ground after he stopped resisting

Takashi then disarmed him while Kohta slowly sneaked away

With me following behind him

"Well, maybe i should call you rainbow knight number two" I say as i walk up to Kohta

He just darts his head to me before he starts chuckling as he rubs his nose

"That was some good teamwork there, you...saw me hiding behind these mattresses didn't you?

I saw you looking at me for a moment...or well i think i did...you know...mask" Kohta responds

I just nodded

"Yep i saw you hiding back there, figured you would have a better chance disarming him

So i just got him talking...

Still...UGHHH, i just want to rip his teeth out right now" I say as i jerk my shoulders and bring my hands up to my chest and bend them in a claw-like motion"

Kohta just nods repeatedly

"Yea i know what you mean...the things he said..."

"The mask does NOT! Make me look like a clown" I say as i turn to him and point at my face

Kohta just...stared at me like an idiot

...And several seconds later

I just burst out laughing

Kohta following suit shortly after

"Seriously though, good call there" I say as i strongly pat Kohta on the back, sending him a step forward

"OW, oi take it easy, i'm a long-range player, no defense" He says as he starts shaking the shoulder i just pat...ok...the shoulder i just slapped

"Really...you seemed pretty up close and personal to me back there" I say as i point behind me with my thumb

"That was a co-op stealth move, it doesn't count" He responds as he grins without opening his mouth

"Whatever you say Rambo..ow knight mark two" I say as i lift my hands to shoulder height and shrug

Kohta just shook his head

"Your naming ideas though...need some major improvements" He says as he folds his arms

I dart my head to him

"What?! But Rector was an awesome name..." I say as i keep staring at him

"Hey! Leave my gun out of this! It was a great weapon!" He says as he points at me

"Ehh...Yea won't deny that, it was pretty lethal after all" I say as i tilt my head and look away

"In any case, i'll get going, see ya later captain" I pat Kohta on the back again and change direction

I move to the second floor and head towards at the nearest door that led to the mall's actual staircase

(Well...that is over...next is...

The clinic huh?...It's been some time since the last time that i actually fought corpses in close quarters...

Maybe i should sit this one out? The others should be able to handle it...

...Other than that, i know i don't wanna be at our next group meeting

What with Rei being more bitchy than usual)

Upon reaching a gray fireproof double door, i open it and meet two sets of normal stairs

One on the left going down, with the label 'Gararge' on the wall to my the left

The other going up

The label 'Third floor - roof' the wall to my right

I pick the right staircase and start going up

(Still...if i don't go to the clinic...that dude from the other group will die

And...uhhh...Takashi...never used the shotgun

He won't be able to make that hole in the ceiling if he does not take it with him...

Uhhh...crabs...looks like i managed to drive my self to a corner here...

I wanted to stay back and deal with Saeko...

But i guess i'll have to go to the clinic whether i like it or not

...Ugh, hospitals in a zombie apocalypse...what could ever go wrong...)

Upon reaching the top i am greeted by another single gray metal door

I give its handle a push and the door opens with no resistance

The first thing that welcomed me to the roof

Was a gust of cold wind

(And of course, it would be windy up here)

I walk straight to the other side of the building and sit by the edge

I put my hand under my chin and look at the field below me

Then turn my head towards my left at the general direction that the Humvee should be at

(I should find out where they keep the canned food and water

If the mall falls...nobody will care who takes what

Speaking of food...normally i should be starving by now

I have not eaten anything since yesterday noon?

Yet...i don't feel hungry...

Uhh whatever, i'll eat when i feel like it)

My sight then stops at the grouped up corpses

(And then...we have Saeko...

What am i going to do with her...

She is starting to act up and i don't think that little five-minute pep talk i had with her by the windowed wall can act as a replacement for the shrine...

Ughh come on Naier, think, think...

You stoped Takashi and Saeko from getting together

So if she dies now...it's all on you)

As i kept staring at the grouped up corpses i also noticed something

A corpse in a blue uniform

(Huh...wait...is that?)

I lean my head forward and squint my eyes as i try to get a better look

Not that it really helped mind you

But...i was sure of it

(The cop girl...Huh was the mass gathered there because of her?

...But...with so many corpses, there should have been nothing left of her

So...she just happened to follow whatever caused the corpses to gather there?

Or she turned before they could tear her to pieces

Whatever the case...there is still some time before the rest spot her...

So if i could just...)

"So this is where you were hiding after all"

I turn around to see Kohta walking towards me

A map and binoculars in his hand

"I needed some fresh air" I say as i turn my body to the side, so one leg was hanging over the wall while the other was on the ground

"Uhh should you be sitting like this? It's a long drop you know" He asks as he sits on the ground next to me

"I'll be fine" I answer as i raise my arm and then let it fall on the ground

(I also need to be able to see Asami coming so i can leave before she decides to bail because of me)

"Well just avoid Saya for a while" He says with a chuckle

"Huh...what do you mean?" I ask

"She was pissed that you skipped the meeting" He responds

(Ain't Saya always pissed though?)

"I will make sure to stay out of her way for now then" I say as i turn to look at the mountains in the distance

Kohta then filled me in on the meeting

That being that Takashi and the rest agreed on looking at a bank vault for working electrical equipment

And that we ain't sharing...

After that, we then stayed silent for some time

Kohta scribbling on his map

While i kept checking the door that led to the lower floors

(Still even if we find working phones and computers...

The electrical grid is dead, we can't charge them...

That is where the solar panels should normally come into play

...But...we need to find a place to stay permanently for that to happen)

After turning my head towards the door for what must have been the tenth time

I notice that it was actually left open

I keep staring at the door...

And see an orange-haired head pop out slightly from the open gap

And then retracting back behind the door

(...Yea...time to leave)

"Well, i got stuff that needs doing, so i'll leave ya to it" I say as i get up, take one last glance at the corpse in the cop uniform and shake Kohta lightly on the shoulder

He reacts with a nod

And so, as i moved towards the door, Asami peeked through it again

Only too see my staring back at her

She kept staring at me before letting out an awkward laugh

"A...asami was just...

This officer...was just..emm" She whispers

I just open the door as she takes some steps backwards

I enter the building turn around and close the door slightly making sure that Kohta has not seen us

Then turn to Asami

"I think he will be quite happy to see you right now" I say as i walk past her

"Ummm Asami was really just..."

I just turn around midway on the stairs and chuckle as i shake my head

"Come on officer, get going

Or you made me get up and leave the roof for no reason?" I say as i fold my arms and tilt my head

Asami fidgets about for some seconds, until

"T...thank you" She bows down to the point that she almost folded in two

I just nodded as i turned around and walked down the stairs

Seconds later i heard the door open...and close

(You owe me big time Kohta..

...Playing cupid for your sorry ass while i still have my own shit to deal with...

Why isn't anybody trying to hook me up with Saeko and Saya?

Huh...Probably because one more toxic than a golden toad

And the other can get hot and bothered by beating you to death

Not that they know that but ehh...whatever..

...Better than Rei's self-centered, bitchy attitude)

After going down the stairs i take the exit on the second floor and started uhh...window shopping...for the lack of a better term

Until i stopped outside an electronics store to check the insides

(Nothing has been taken)

Everything was still neatly organized on the shelves

(Figured, the people here did not even bother...

Don't they realize how important even working wires are right now?

Matters not, better for me, more stuff to take...)

I take a step back and turn around

Then head to the railing at the other side and lean on it

(Now...how do i go about the blood transfusion

In the manga, they end up going to the clinic because

One, Alice guilt trips them into it

And two, Asami tries to play the fucking hero

...I...got another plan)

And as to be right on cue i spot the guy with the shaved head waving at me from one-floor bellow

Think his name was...Hiro or something?

"Hey! Mask man, have you seen the Police officer?! The granny ain't doing too good!" He says as he starts taking deep breaths after he stopped shouting

I point at the ceiling with my index finger

"Roof!" I shout back

He nods and starts running towards the escalator

After he reached the second floor he turned to me again

"The old lady and that hot nurse from your group are on the first floor!

After the escalator keep going left and you will see them!" He shouts before going through the fireproof double door

(Alright... let's go)

I nod to my self, lift my self from the railing and follow Hiro's directions

(I also need to get our guns from the Humvee, i am not going to a frigging clinic unarmed

Something that the other group does not need to know...

Hiro will eventually see the guns if he comes along but...if i just let him die...

...Uhh...

What the fuck am i even...

Pull your self together, i am not going to let that guy die just because he finds out that we have guns...

I'll end up worse than Shido if i keep thinking like this...)

I shake my head and start running

After going down the stairs and turning left i keep running straight

I kept looking at the stores as i sprinted past them

Until i finally saw a group of people inside a store ahead of me to my right

I stop running and then enter that store

Shizuka, Takashi, Rei, Saeko and Saya were already there

From the other group...

A woman in the black shirt, the old man and some...balding office worker were there

"About time you showed up" Saya, who had changed to her new clothes said to me with a frown

"Sorry" I just shrugged and said nothing more as i walked towards Shizuka

As anything i might have said would probably have ended up with Saya backlashing

And now was not the time

I look at the granny and then at Shizuka

"How bad is it?" I ask

"She suffers from R.A and needs a blood transfusion" She answers

"Or?" I ask back

Shizuka just lowers her head and does not answer

I just nodded and stayed quiet

Kohta along with Asami and Hiro arrived a couple of minutes later

Alice also joined up shortly after

Carrying a bunch of...what i think were emergency packs?

Could not really see from this distance

The rest...went on as in the manga

Takashi asking to donate his blood and Shizuka got all fidgety

Kohta showing his more than basic knowledge on how blood and plasma transfusions work

And finally

Saya dropping the 'why us' bomb

As Shizuka froze in place seemingly bewildered by the fact that Saya even said that

"I hate to say it...but"

(Alright, time to change the flow of this party)

"I'll go" I cut Takashi off

My whole group turned to look at me like i just said a bad joke

"What!? Naier! you can't just..." Saya begins to speak as her eyes went slightly wide before her usual frown returned to her face

"But i'm not going for free" I add up right after

Now the other group looked at me funny

"Please! I will give you all of my share, just save my wife!" The old man shouts as he puts his hands together and bows slightly, His face still looking straight at me

Causing the other group's frown to deepen even more

"You are awful, you are going to blackmail us now that we are in need?...

Even after we decided to let you all in?" The woman in the black shirt hissed at me

I just chuckled

"I won't take anything out of your pockets or stockpile" I say as i shake my head

"After we go to the clinic...Whatever i get in my bag stays with me" I say as i point at my bag with my thumb

"And no i don't mean i will hog all the blood the old lady needs to twist your fingers either

Painkillers, antibiotics, bandages, disinfectants...things like that"

The other group begins to relax slightly

"And if the clinic has nothing...

Then i again, won't take anything from you"

A short silence followed after that, until...

"I will accompany Naier" Saeko spoke up

(Hmm...oh, Saeko

Wait...what?

...Saeko?

I am sure she did not go to the clinic in the manga...)

Probably realizing that i was staring at her, Saeko started speaking again

"If you are aiming to fill your bag with items, you will be vulnerable, it will weigh you down and make noise" She says as she rests her hand on the hilt of her Katana

"So i will come along" She says she keeps staring at me

I...could feel a slight smile appear on my face

"If the building has corpses inside, it might end up in close combat

If you want to come, you are more than welcome...

You can probably handle close combat better than me anyway" I say as i nod

Saeko smiles at me and nods back

Saya...darted her head between me and Saeko...

"I...will come too" She barked up

The whole group then turns to look at her

"What, my mama gave me..."

(OH SHIT!)

"You are H-Q" I cut her off as i point at the two letters on her shirt

Saya follows my finger until she ends up staring at her chest

"Where are you looking at you pervert!" She shouts as she covers her chest

(Idiot almost blurted out that her mother gave her a gun)

"Shizuka will need somebody with a brain to help her keep the old lady alive

And...there is something else i want to ask of you anyway..." I say as i lean slightly forward

Saya just shifted her head away and didn't speak back, her frown still visible on her face

"Asa...this Officer will go too" Asami says right after

"Na...Nakoaka! Bu...but it's way too risky!" Kohta shouts

(Ohh sure, now you say that it's risky

But when said i would go, you just twiddled your thumbs

Kohta ya frigging Traitor)

I chuckle under my breath

"Hmm...i will go too, same deal with Naier" Takashi says shortly after

Rei then turns to look at Takashi and opens her mouth...

"Then i'm coming as well, to get things for my group" But is cut off By Hiro

(Hmm...no you ain't hero)

"As i'm already playing the role of the black sheep in here...

I would rather have Kohta with us" I say as i point at our gun nut

"But then only your group will get things from the clinic, we need that stuff too you know!" Hiro shouts right after

"Yes, but as i saw, Kohta has some medical knowledge on blood transfusions, so he will be better at gathering what the old lady needs

Plus we will have better coordination like this

Don't take this the wrong way, but i tend to avoid leaving things on luck

What is the point of saving one person, if we end up losing two in the clinic because we could not work together efficiently?" After i finish speaking i fold my arms

Hiro just stared at me

"This officer will get things for her group" Asami speaks up shortly after

Hiro...still did not budge

"Did you forget why we are going there in the first place?

The more time you spend trying to cut a bigger deal for your group, The closer you bring the initial task end up in failure" I say as i point at the old lady

Hiro finally sighs and backs off, he raises his arms and with an annoyed smirk he takes a few steps back

(I am doing this to save you, you sarcastic fuck...ughh...whatever)

And so

"Me, Takashi, Kohta, Saeko and the Police officer...We good?" I ask

Everybody finally responds with a nod

"Alright...Takashi " I say as i turn to leave and motion him with my hand

Takashi nods and runs up to me

"Once we are out...I along with one more person from our group will go to the Humvee to get our guns and some bags" I whisper to him

"Hmm, are you sure we should take the guns?" He asks

"As i said, nothing to luck, Asami seems to be getting along with Kohta so i don't think she will rat us out even if she sees the guns"

Takashi turns to look behind him as i speak only to see Asami staring intensely at Kohta with big round starry eyes

"I think they are more than just...'getting along'" He says as he laughs awkwardly and scratches his cheek

"Even better then" I say with a shrug

"Hey, what are you two whispering about?" Kohta asks as he walks up to us

"How you and the cop make a nice couple" I answer casually

Kohta's eyes go wide as he bends over and starts choking, his hand over his mouth as his face turns into a Saya style tomato red

Asami then runs up to Kohta

"What happened! are you alright?" Kohta lifts his head to meet Asami's face...a few centimeters away from his

He yelps and falls back on his ass

Asami reacts by also yelping as she leaned her body away, pulling her arms back until her hands touched her shoulders

I keep staring at the two for some seconds before taking my eyes off and look at the rest of the group

Shizuka and Alice were smiling gleefully

Takashi was also smiling, albeit awkwardly

Rei was giggling

Saya had closed her eyes and was shaking her head before turning to look at me with a tilted head, hey eyebrows almost making a straight line

Saeko was just staring at me with an odd expression

"Aaaanyway...Let's go ah?"


	25. Do you have an appointment?

"So, you know what you need to get?" I ask as i lean my back against the concrete wall fence, eyeing the clinic's front entrance that was over the road to my right.

"Yea, if it's in there, i'll find it" Kohta responds as he brandishes the Ar-10 in his arms.

(I can't see any corpses around...yet i can bet my mask that the moment i open fire, shit will pop out from every single direction possible.)

"So, you all ready?" I ask as i turn to look at the group.

After a short silence, they all responded with a nod. I then move away from the wall, giving the shotgun in my hands a quick glance.

"Still, are you sure it was a good idea? Leaving Saya to do that by her self..." Takashi asks as we start moving.

"Saya's smart, she'll figure out how to handle this...not to add that she would probably try to chew your fingers off if she heard you ask something like that." I respond as i chuckle and turn my sight towards the clinic once again.

**ABOUT AN HOUR AGO...**

I was standing alone by the door that led outside, the same door that we used when we first arrived at the mall. There were two corpses on the other side of that door right now, 'staring' right back at me.

(Hmm...other than these two chumps, the road behind them is relatively clear...so the question now is, who do i take with me to the humvee?

Kohta is too slow...Asami is still part of the other group, plus she is stuck on Kohta like glue...meaning...either Takashi or Saeko.)

"Well, you look like a god damn hooligan now." A female voice cuts me off from my thoughts. Turning around i see Saya walking next to Takashi, who had an aluminum bat resting on his shoulder.

"At least it's easier to swing." Takashi responds.

"Saya? Are you going to barricade the door after we leave?" I ask as i tilt my head. Saya then turns to me as she folds her arms.

"You said you wanted to ask something of me, what was it?" she asks.

I nod and lean my body to the side, making sure that nobody was behind them. Seeing me do this, both of them turn around to look at the empty hallway.

"I saw an electronics store on the second floor, the other group seemed to have completely ignored it so, could you check it out?

See if there is anything inside that is still functional. Batteries should still work even after the E.M.P blast, so you can use them to check any battery-operated equipment...

Just remember, you're just checking, don't take anything, if you get spotted, say exactly that...

And be careful, if things don't look safe, then don't do anything." I fold my arms as i finish speaking...Saya...responds by rolling her eyes.

"I'm not five, i can handle my self." she says as she tilts her head with an annoyed look.

"I'm not saying that you are Saya, but one of theirs nearly raped somebody, i'm just worried about you." I respond as i stare right back at her.

"I...i said i'll be fine...stop being an idiot..." Her face goes slightly red as she looks away.

"Then...you better not need any rescuing by the time i'm back, I'm an evil overlord, not a knight." I say as I lift both hands.

Saya then turns to me with a smirk, her face still slightly red.

"I thought you were a penguin." She says with a smug look.

"As long as you understand...sure." I replied as i folded my arms. Saya looked...slightly displeased with my reaction, as she ended up pouting.

"You...Uhhh...want me to leave you two alone?" Takashi asks as he looks at us. Saya darts her head to him...and delivers a swift kick to his shin before stomping off.

I turn to look at Takashi as he was hopping about, the leg that Saya just kicked folded in his arms.

"You said that...to Saya of all people?...You crazy?" I ask as i tilt my head, yet before he could respond.

"Huh what happened here?" I turn towards the male voice to see Kohta walking towards us, along with Saeko and Asami.

"He brought forth the wrath of Saya..." I answer as i glance at Takashi before turning to Kohta again.

"Ohh, so that's why she was running like that...but...wait...Asami does not understand...if she was mad...why was she smiling like that?" She asks as she puts her finger next to her mouth.

(Hmm...our chundere made a slip-up ehh)

"No idea, but in any case...are we all set?" I ask as i shrug and look at the now assembled group, they all nod after looking at each other.

"Alright...so...who knows where the clinic is at?" I ask again.

"Asami used to go there for checkups when she was a kid, she knows how to go there...Oh, and some people from my group are on their way, they will barricade the door again after we leave." She replies as she raises her arm.

"Good...good...uhh...Takashi, Saeko which one of you will come with me to go get the...stuff?" I ask a third question as i point my thumb behind me.

Saeko tilts her head questionably, while Takashi just nods.

"I'll come." He replies.

"Alright, as long as you can run that is." I point at his leg as i speak.

"I'm fine." Takashi responds as he kicks the air with that leg.

"Alright...we have two corpses outside...the doors open towards the inside so we can't knock them down by kicking the doors...

Hmm...two people will open the doors and two will deal with the corpses, if they get inside during all this, we will just drag them outside afterward...

...If anybody has a better idea, i'm all ears" I say as i turn to stare at the two corpses on the other side of the door.

And after a short silence.

"I want to try out the bat, so i'm taking one of them." Takashi speaks up, signaling that we are going with my plan after all.

"I will take the other one then." Saeko adds up.

I nod and move to the door, Kohta following behind me shortly after.

"Alright, on three open the door, then use it as a shield and hide behind it." I say as i stare at Kohta, he just nodded with a serious expression.

"One." I tighten my grip on the handle

"Two." Lightly kick the door to get the corpses' attention.

"Three!" And swing the door open.

The moment the doors opened, the corpses charged inside, only to get knocked down to the ground seconds later.

Saeko stabbed one of the corpses in the face as she lunged forward, killing it instantly.

Takashi also 'stabbed' the other corpse in the face with the tip of the bat, sending it stumbling backward as it fell on its ass. Before it could react, Saeko then took a step to the left and with a fluid motion, severed its head.

And as i moved away from the door, i spotted several members from the other group in the far end of the hallway running towards us.

"Go! We will deal with these two!" Hiro, who was part of the group that just arrived shouted at us.

I nod and give the group one last glance before exiting the mall.

And the moment we crossed the door, we run past the field until we reached the street.

"Alright Takashi, with me. Asami general direction towards the clinic?" I turn to the cop as i check my surroundings.

"Ohh, umm..ahh...It's...it's straight to the left from here and then...then two turns later you go left and then next turn you go right and...then straight" She says as her face starts taking an anxious expression.

"Ok, Me and Takashi will go straight down from here, we will meet up midway...On the uhh...first intersection you need to turn left, wait for us there.

If it's hostile keep going at a slower pace so we can catch up to you." I say as i turn around and start walking away, motioning Takashi to follow me with my hand.

Several steps later i turn around to see Takashi next to me. I glance at the grouped up corpses in the distance to my left.

(Can't see the cop girl anywhere...not that i can do anything about it with Asami here...

And i can't return here after getting the guns...as I might get spotted by the ones inside...plus i don't have the time to waste on this now)

I turn around again and start running down the street with Takashi right next to me.

With the road being wide enough, and the fact that this was the same road that Saeko went full genocide mode, we moved with ease around the few corpses that occupied the street. And after going over the first intersection we kept moving straight.

"What are we going to take with us?" Takashi asks as he keeps running next to me.

"A shotgun, a rifle, one more handgun and...three bags." I answer as i keep looking down the road.

"Huh...wait...the numbers don't add up." He responds.

"Shotgun for me, i already have a bag, Rifle for Kohta and the first bag, Handgun for you and the second bag.

Saeko seems to be allergic to guns and since she will be using the sword, better if she is not weighed down by a bag. The cop has the gun we gave her, so bag only" I answered as we reached the next intersection.

I slow down and raise my arm then look to my right.

(Clear)

I motion Takashi with my hand and start running again.

"Allergic to guns?" He asks.

"I tried to give her one, but she avoided it like it was cursed" I answer. Takashi just stayed quiet as we run up to the tree cluster.

(Looks clear, but better i don't take any chances)

I pull the bokken from my bag's side straps and start walking towards the trees.

Thankfully no corpses were present there and more importantly, the car was still there, seemingly untouched.

"Alright, i got the keys, we open the trunk, take what we need and disappear. " I say as i run to the back of the Humvee and lift the net before reaching into my pocket for the keys...

(Uhh...what?...)

I start franticly looking in all my pockets.

"What's wrong?" Takashi asks as he looks at me.

"Nothing, just a minor set back..." I answer without turning to him.

(FUCK!...where are they?!...Did i leave them in the building?...

No...i'm sure i did not take them out of my pockets...think...THINK YOU DAMN MORON...

Come on, come on...Uhhh...let's see...

I took the keys from Shizuka...

I exited the car...

I locked the car...

And then i...uhh...)

I dash to the driver's door and lift net.

(...Ok Saya, maybe i'm an idiot after all...)

I think as i take the keys out of the door's keyhole and turn to Takashi, then lift them to head high and jiggle them.

"See, just a minor set back." I say as walked towards the trunk...Takashi just...stared at me.

"You...forgot them on the door?" He asks as he sighs.

"Yes i did." I answer casually as i open the trunk.

Takashi, while still giving me a weird look, moves closer and looks inside the car.

I leaned into the trunk, lifted the second net and picked the two guns before strapping them on me. Takashi grabbed a bag and passed it over his shoulder.

(Right, bag.)

I remove my bag and take all the semi-folded clothes off, leaving them on a box. Then take the second P220 along with the empty magazine out of my bag and turn to Takashi.

I poke him with the magazine to get his attention. He turns to me before taking the gun and magazine with a nod. After that, i pick two more bags, fold them and shove em in my bag.

"Next, ammo for the guns" I say as i get inside the tunk and open the red box with the shells, i grab a couple of handfuls and toss them in the bag.

(If these go off while i'm running...ohh boy.)

I then open the rifle ammo crate and shove a handful of bullets in the bag, along with three filled Ar-10 magazines that were left next to the green crate.

(Ok...we should be good, let's get going.)

I turn to Takashi to see him staring at me

"You done?"I ask

He just nods and exits the trunk. I do the same and then close and lock it before pulling the net over.

"Alright three guns, three bags and some ammo, let's get out of here." I say as i turn around to leave.

"Naier...do you like Saya?" Takashi asks as i walk past him.

"Where did that come from?" I ask i turn to look at him.

"Well...the way you two spoke...i have known Saya since i was in kindergarten...and...i don't think i have ever seen her listen to anyone like that before..."He responds.

(And what does that have to do with whether i like her or not?)

"She probably just understands the situation." I answer back.

"And Saeko..." he speaks up again.

(Ohh for fuck's sake dude.)

"The way you rushed to her was..."

"Do you like them?" I cut off Takashi, causing him to freeze.

"I..."

"My answer would probably be similar to yours, just exclude Miyamoto from it." I cut him off once more.

"We...should keep moving, the last thing the team needs is both of us getting killed here" I say as i turn around and start walking away, only to turn around again shortly after.

"Come on, the longer we take, the worse it'll get" I point towards the general direction of the mall. Takashi finally nods and starts walking.

(Should i be worried about getting stabbed in the back now?...)

After we got out of the tree cluster, we turned left after we took a quick look around.

"Ok we need to go two intersections straight, then turn left...after that, we keep going straight again, the others should be on that street" I say as i look at the road ahead, the bokken in hand.

"We should pay more attention in our surroundings now, all the stuff we took will make us ring like dinner bells." Takashi responds. I turn to him and nod before pushing the two guns towards my back. And like that was started moving down the road.

And by moving...i mean sprinting like your life depended on it, two intersections were not VERY far in terms of distance, but each step we took caused every single deadhead to turn to us.

"Should we use the guns? We could deal with the ones straight ahead so we don't have to zig-zag around the street." Takashi asked as we swerved around the corpses.

"No, remember we just left the mall, shooting the guns right now might arouse suspicion from the survivors that are inside." I say as i keep running.

(Though i must admit the idea seems very intriguing.)

Upon reaching the first intersection we climb on the hood of a silver sedan that was in the middle of the street and move to its roof.

"Take a couple of breaths, wait for the nearby corpses to get near the car, then we jump over them...or go from a side has no corpses." I say as i kneel down and balance my self by placing one hand on the roof.

After a couple of seconds, corpses had indeed gathered on both sides of the car, the hood and trunk were still clear though with only two corpses closing towards the trunk.

"Ok, let's go. Down the hood and then straight to the road ahead." I turn to Takashi as i speak to see him nod.

We slide down the windshield and jump off the hood before taking a sharp turn to the left. Then we kept running straight until we reached the next street, were moved to the center and kept going straight.

Only to be stopped halfway through.

"Uhh...you still don't want to use the guns?" Takashi asks as he looks at a group of kneeled down corpses that were behind two crashed cars, munching on...you know what.

"The corpses are gathered to the left part of the street...uhh...yea...don't take any chances, ready your gun, we will go from the right side and...fuck it, shoot any corpses that are in our way, if that group gets a sniff on us and we are not clear to run...yea...get your gun" I say as i grab the shotgun by the barrel and bring it to the front, before holding it normally.

I pass the bokken between my back and the bag, then kneel down put the butt of the gun on my hip and pump it as i keep my hand close to the ejection port.

(One, two, three, four...Four shells.)

I then start loading the shells back into the shotgun before getting up and looking down the sight.

"Right, sight's dead...still...as long as it knocks them back, i won't complain." I say as i lower the gun and walk to the right part of the street, Takashi following right behind me.

Right now, other than the kneeling corpses, which must have been around...ten? twelve? We also had three corpses on the right side of the road.

I lift the shotgun once again and walk straight towards the first two corpses that were shambling side by side.

"You got the third one after i deal with these two?" I ask as i keep moving towards the corpses that had now been notified of our presence.

"Got you covered." I hear Takashi say from right behind me

I take several steps forward, to the point that if i extended my arm, the shotgun would touch the corpse's hands, i then pull the trigger.

Both corpses get sent flying back, one with one side of its head blown to bits, the other having its shoulder and a small part of its face blasted off.

The third corpse that was a little further back did get a couple of pellets in the torso, causing it to jerk its upper body backward, but remained otherwise unaffected as it kept shambling forward.

Takashi then runs past me, jumps over the two corpses that laid on the floor and took a sideways swing at the third corpse's face, causing it to stumble to the left before hitting the ground. He then walks over it and starts whacking it on the back of its head repeatedly.

I take a glance at the grouped up corpses that were now on their feet, slowly turning towards us. I run past the two fallen corpses, one of which was actually still moving about and stop next to Takashi.

"We got to move! the group is coming after us!" I shout as i turn to look at the corpses and walk past Takashi.

He stops beating the everliving crap of...uh...what used to be a head and turns to me with a nod. It's funny how even after he went ballistic on that corpse, he had no blood on him, not even a single drop.

Thankfully, as all the corpses had apparently gathered here, the road ahead was clear. So we just had a straight run towards the next intersection.

"And they called me ruthless, i think we need to switch titles here." I say as we reach the next intersection and look to the left.

Takashi just shrugged as he chuckled and cleaned the blood off the bat with his sleeve.

"The intersection where our group is at should be after this road. let's go." Takashi says as he starts walking. I follow behind him as i check around the intersection one last time.

Compared to the last two streets, this one could be counted as empty, plus whatever corpse did roam about, had also flocked to the left part of the road, leaving the right side safe to traverse.

(Whoever got all these corpses to gather back there caused quite the commotion, judging from how everything here tried to get there.)

As we kept running down the road i started making out several figures on the intersection that was up ahead.

(Purple hair, orange hair, chubby ball...and several bodies laying on the street. Yep that colorful bunch is our group alright.)

Kohta was the first one to notice us. He started waving, causing the other two to turn their heads towards our direction.

And once we finally got close.

"Did somebody order guns?" I say as i take off the AR-10 and hand it to Kohta.

"And this should have two bags folded up inside, along with some extra mags and a couple of spare bullets for the rifle." I say as i pull the bokken from its temporary sheath, take the shotgun off and hand my bag to Kohta.

He quickly gets to work as he opens the bag and takes one bag from inside, he then shoves the AR-10 mags and bullets inside. After that, he takes the second bag and walks up to Asami.

While Kohta was talking with Asami i turn to look at Takashi to see him...trying to give the handgun to Saeko? She responded by shaking her head and motioning to her sword.

(...Did he just try to...huh...well, looks like you are in the nope squad as well buddy...)

I hold my self back from chuckling...or thinking too deep into what i just saw...and turn to Kohta.

"we ready?" I ask as i kneel down, leave the shotgun to the ground and wear the bag.

"As ready as we'll ever be." Kohta replies as he gives the rifle a quick check...with Asami staring intensely at him.

"Uhh, buddy, i think you just mesmerized somebody." I say as i point at the female cop.

Kohta tilts his head and turns towards the staring Asami.

"Are you...a secret agent?...Asami...is supposed to be a cop, but she can't even understand what you're doing to that gun..." She said as she kept staring, her eyes wide open.

Kohta, seeing the chance...took it upon himself to...educate Asami...

**PRESENT TIME**

"Oh and Kohta, no more gun talk please." I say as i give him a quick glance, he responded by laughing awkwardly.

"Alright, let's go find that plasma." I say as i nod to myself and with quick steps, i move towards the clinic.

After we reached the front door, i pushed it with the shotgun's muzzle, yet the glass door did not budge. So i grabbed the handle and pull it towards me next, the door then opened with no real resistance.

And so, we slowly walked inside, scanning the insides of the structure.

While the building had no lights, i could still see clearly thanks to the sun's rays, as it was still in the middle of the day.

To my left, next to a giant glass wall i could see an open space that should have been a waiting room, toppled chairs and ripped manga littered the floor along with spilled drinks ripped clothes and...well...blood.

To my right, about four to five meters from me, i could see a semi-closed wooden door, the words 'staff only' on a metal label that hanged on the door. Next to it after a couple of meters was a white door and after some meters was another white door. Examination rooms if i had to take a guess, in total about four of these doors were on the right wall before the wall itself ended.

Opposite of that wall, in other words, next to the waiting room. Was what i suspected to be the reception room, the wall that was facing the waiting room had nothing on it, but there was a medium-sized hole in the wall that was facing the white doors. Next to that hole, i could see two brown doors, and next to these doors i could see wide, single-pane windows, so i doubt these were examination rooms...storage maybe?

Now between the reception and the examination rooms was a corridor, wide enough to fit...two and a half Kohtas?

And on the far end of that corridor, i could see a wall, the corridor there split to left and right. The wall on the far end was also made of windows from half side up.

So visibility was pretty good over there too.

(I can't see a single corpse...but...I know this place is like a god damn clown car.)

I raise my hand and motion the group to move forward, we walked all the way to the corridor where the reception window was at.

I looked inside the hole to see it empty, behind the small reception room i could see another half-open door with the label 'storage' on it. I turn to the group and motioned them with my hand.

Kohta was the first one to come up to me, and after he looked at the storage room door he gave me a thumbs up. He then pointed at the right wall inside the reception room, where i could see a single door.

I nodded and looked at the first brown door that was next to the reception then pointed at it before looking at Kohta, to see him nodding as well. With my weapon ready i then moved to the right and looked through the glass window that was next to the brown door.

(This is weird...wasn't this the room that had the first signs of corpses in the manga?...It's completely empty...)

And at that same moment.

**'CRASH'**

A loud sound echoed to my right, where the rest of the group was at.

I turn my head only to see the door with the 'staff only' label wide open as corpses poured out of it...a lot of them

(OF-FUCKING-COURSE THIS WOULD HAPPEN!)

"Back! Fall back! First door after the reception room leads to the storage room behind the reception!"I shout as i run-up to the group and point behind me.

The group quickly runs past me before i take several hops back and turn around, i take off my shotgun and remove my bag before tossing it to Kohta.

"You know what we need, fill my bag as well, i got the shotgun and it's about time i used it." I say as i turn to the corpses that were slowly getting up and looking towards our direction.

I take several steps forward...before Saeko walked past me. I then grabbed her arm, causing her to turn to me.

"I will be using the gun, too many, too close, you will get caught in the fire if you charge in...help Kohta, me and Takashi will use our guns to hold off the corpses" I say as i look at her.

She stared at me for a couple of seconds before nodding. She then run past me and entered the room with Kohta and Asami.

"We just need to hold them away from the door, we can leave from the back windows once we are done." I say as i lift my gun and aim at the corpses.

Takashi nods and aims his handgun...but does not shoot.

"I...never fired a gun before..." He says as he looks at it.

"Matters not, look at them, just aim at the general direction and pull the trigger, you will hit something...and...watch our back." I respond as i close one eye, look down the dead sight and pull the trigger, sending the nearest corpses back as they crashed into the ones behind them.

(I really need to get rid of this sight)

I think as i pump a new round into the chamber.

(Five)

I take a big step forward and point at the nearest corpses before pulling the trigger again, causing even more of them to get sent flying back. How many? i could not tell...could be five...could be ten, as with the way they were clustered together shotting one corpse caused three of them to fall down.

I take a step back and pump a new round into the chamber.

(Four)

By now i also noticed that corpses were starting to gather in front of the clinic's entrance.

(They will join the party too huh...we need to hurry.)

I take a step forward again and pull the trigger, causing the wall of corpses to get retracted once more. Takashi was probably getting used to the gun as i heard a couple of shots coming from his direction.

"How much longer!" I shout.

"We are done with the Plasma! We are filling the bags with other stuff now!"I hear a male voice shout back.

"Well hurry it up! They brought friends!" I shout as i pump the shotgun again.

(Three)

And then, the sound of glass breaking.

"Ohh...this is bad..." I say as i lower the shotgun slightly and stare at the outside corpses as they plummeted into the waiting room.

I quickly lift the shotgun and pull the trigger as i take a step back.

"Alright! Hope you're ready, we are leaving. NOW!" I shout as i turn around and motion Takashi with my free arm, he nods and turns around as well.

"We are almost done!" Kohta shouts.

"You ARE done!" I shout again as i pump another round.

Seconds later i see Kohta exit the storage room, the two girls following behind him shortly after. And once they joined up with us, they turned to stare at the oncoming...uhh...horde

"Holy sh..."

"Move, move. The back has only a handful of corpses." I cut Kohta off as i point at the four corpses that were by the corridor's split.

I raise my shotgun, aim at the four corpses as i walk towards them and pull the trigger, sending three of them to the ground.

I then pump a new round and start running towards the last standing corpse...or at least...that was my initial aim...

As the moment the three corpses hit the ground, more corpses started spewing out from both sides of the splitting corridor.

"REALLY NOW!?" I shout as i grind to a stop, turn around and run towards the second wooden door to my right. I give the doorknob a twist...but the door didn't budge.

"Ohh, for fuck's sake..." I groan under my breath as i kick the door take a step back, then point the shotgun at the window next to it...

(Wait...i got only one shell left?...lost count...and no time to reload...)

I lower the shotgun and look at the corpses as they closed in from both sides, i could see the other members of the group shout something as they looked around, but i could not really make out what they were saying.

(Looks like...i will have to copy you on this Takashi...this better work...or we're so screwed)

I raise the shotgun over my head, point at the ceiling and pull the trigger. Seconds later i looked up to see a hole, big enough to fit three of us at the same time, i let go of the shotgun letting it hang on my side as i put my hands together and bend my knees slightly.

"Kohta! You got up there yesterday!" I shout as the group turned to stare at me, thankfully, Kohta got the idea pretty fast as he run up to me and using my hands as a ladder he climbed up, successfully going up to the second floor.

"Clear!" He shouts seconds later.

"Takashi you are up!" I shout, he nods and proceeds to do the same, also getting up with no real trouble.

"Naier behind you!" Saeko shouts as she backsteps from the corpses that were shambling towards us from the opposite side, i instantly grab the shotgun and take a blind swing with its butt, hitting a corpse flat on the side of its face.

"Help the girls up! And throw me a gun! I'm out!" I shout as i extend my hand towards the hole and take a few steps back.

Takashi throws his handgun and extra clip to me as he leans his upper body over the hole as he extends both arms, Kohta following suit shortly after.

"Naokoka! Grab on quick!" Kohta shouts as he looks at Asami.

"No time to think officer, move it!" I say as i grab the gun and let the magazine fall to the ground. I then point the gun at the corpse i just swung at some seconds ago and pull the trigger. After that i kneel down and pick the second magazine before aiming at the marching corpses once more, in the meantime, Asami used the opening to move ahead of me and grab Kohta's hand.

As they pulled her up, one of the corpses from my side tripped on a fallen body and 'lunged' forward, gabbing Asami by her shoe, causing her to start screaming.

I run to her and touch the gun's muzzle at the corpse's head as it reached for the leg it just grabbed, its mouth wide open. I pull the trigger and grab Asami's leg as i push her up.

"Saeko you are up next!" I shout as i aim at the corpses once again and blast off another head.

"You should go first." I hear Saeko say as she stood next to me.

"I have a gun, it's safer for me to hold them off, this was not a request Saeko, You. Go. First." I say as i glance at her before shooting again, Saeko just stayed quiet.

"Saeko! Take my arm!" Takashi shouts as he appears on the hole again.

"Go! I will be right behind you." I say as i keep aiming the handgun. Saeko finally sheaths her blade and grabs Takashi's hand, while i shot the gun's last round.

While they pulled her up, i eject the magazine and shove the second one in the gun, yet before i could even put a new bullet in the chamber. I felt two hands grabbing my shoulders.

"The fuck?!" I shout as i bend my body sideways and 'roll' my self to face the corpse that had its hands on me.

I was instantly met with an open mouth as the corpse pulled me towards it, i grab it by the neck as i press on the gun's slide lock, causing the slide to move forward and load a new bullet in the chamber. I then put the gun between me and the corpse as it slowly brought its face closer to mine.

"Ghh, Piss off already!" The corpse jerks its head back and releases me from its grip the moment i pulled the trigger, I then shove it back, making it fall on the corpses behind it.

I turn around to see Saeko looking at me with her hand extending from the hole.

"Naier! Take my hand!" Saeko shouts as she leans even more over the hole.

The problem was...the corpses i was holding off had now moved passed the hole...and the corpses behind me were less than a meter away.

I glance at my gun before darting my head around, my sight stopping at the windows to my right.

I bend my body forward and run towards the window before turning all the way around and running straight to the opposite wall.

Using the momentum i run a few steps up the wall, then turn my upper body around and aim the gun at a corpse that was making out with the other side of the window. I pull the trigger two times as i put strength in my legs and spring from the wall, straight towards the now cracked window. And with the sound of shattering glass, i smash through the window and crash into the corpse as it fell backward.

The moment i hit the ground i roll to my right and look at the corpse

(Bullet to the head...good thing i didn't miss...)

I then look at the rest of the room. One corpse was to my left, a couple of meters away, two straight ahead of me, behind some metal tables that had several bottles on them and one last corpse was by itself at the far left end of the room.

"NAIER! NAIER!" I hear a female voice scream seconds later.

"I am fine! Get going, i will find another way out!" I shout as i get up and aim at the corpse to my left before putting a hole right between its eyes.

I then turn to the other two corpses to see them walking towards me as they dragged along the tables that were in front of them, I proceed to give both of them a third eye before turning to look at the window that i just smashed through. The only thing i could see was hands sticking out of it, thankfully though they didn't seem to be able to get inside.

I nod and turn around before aiming at the last corpse as it shambled towards me. And one gunshot later, the room was clear. I then take the magazine off and look at it.

(Two bullets left...)

I put the gun into a pocket as i turn to look at the windows again.

"Yea...not getting out this way...hmm..." I turn my head and look at the other end of the room, i could see several windows that led outside and i could not see any corpse on the other side either.

"Yea that could work" I say as i start walking towards the windows. Yet...i did not go too far.

"Saeko? Saeko! what are you doing!?" I hear a male voice shout.

I dart my head around only to see a pair of legs in black boots and stocking going over in an ark towards the smashed window.

Saeko went over the corpses and landed in the room...but...not far enough, as a couple of hands managed to grab her school shirt from behind.

"The Hell?!" I shout as i dash towards her. And as they jerked her backward, she stabbed her sheathed sword against the wall behind her, in order to stop her self from getting pulled back.

The moment i got close to her, i hugged her by passing my right hand behind her neck and pushing it over to my left shoulder, i then lift my right leg and stomp against the wall. The moment i managed to stabilize my self i looked at the hands that had taken hold of the shirt.

I follow a pair of hands with my eyes until i could see who the owner was, then pass the handgun over Saeko's shoulder with my left hand and shoot the corpse straight in the face. I then did the same thing again for another pair of hands, and the moment the second corpse let go, we got yanked backward as Saeko broke free.

"Saeko! Are you alright?!" The same male voice could still be heard from inside the hole.

"We...we are both fine! Now get going before i'll have to plug that damn hole!" i shout again.

After a short silence.

"A...alright, be careful...you remember the way back to the mall?" The same voice responds.

"Yea! Now get the fuck out of here!" I shout back again...and then...silence.

"Ummm...Naier..."I hear a female voice next to me

I look down to see i was still hugging Saeko...

I let her go and stare at her.

"Are you alright? no bites?" I ask

She gives her self a quick pat-down before nodding, all the time without looking at me.

I take several steps back, before sitting on a table with a silent sigh.

"Alright, Saeko...what the fuck was that?" I ask, and Saeko finally looks at me.

She stayed quiet for some time, seemingly thinking of what to say.

"What do you mean?" She responds with a question.

"You know very well what i mean Saeko, you nearly killed your self with this stunt you just pulled." I say as i point my hand at the window.

She stayed quiet as she averted her gaze.

"It was nothing..." She responds in a low tone.

"Nothing?...Saeko you nearly killed your self..." I say as i narrow my eyes.

"And what does it matter..." She responds in a low tone again.

"The what?" I ask as i tilt my head.

"I NEARLY CHOPPED YOUR HEAD OFF!" She screams at me as she turns her head, her eyes going wide as she leans forward.

"No, you accidentally, nearly chopped my head off" I respond.

"And what is the difference!...were you not fast enough...i...i wouldn't have even realized what i did until it was already too late!" She shouts back at me.

"You wanted to kill me?" I ask bluntly.

"What, no! I...!" She starts shouting again.

"Then, that's all i care for" I cut her off.

She stops shouting and just stares at me for several seconds before looking away.

And... a couple of minutes passed with me staring at Saeko...and Saeko looking away.

"I...don't deserve..." She says in a low tone.

"You don't deserve?" I repeat her words.

"I don't deserve this kindness..." She replies.

"Why?" I ask and i lean forward.

She grabs the collar of her shirt as she keeps looking away from me.

"I...i'm not who you think i am..." She replies.

And after another short silence, she takes a deep breath.

"Four years ago...I was walking alone at night...and i got attacked by a man...

I had my bokken with me, so i was able to defend my self...I ended up breaking his shoulder blade and femur..." She says as she turns to look at me, i decided to stay quiet as she spoke.

"And i enjoyed it..." She says with a meek voice

"I enjoyed inflicting pain on him! Making him suffer!" She shouts.

"I kept attacking him not because he tried to force himself on me, but because i liked it, i felt exhilarated as i watched him writhe in agony!" She keeps leaning towards me as she shouts.

"I am nothing but a monster..." She turns her head away again and tightens the grip on her collar.

I take a deep breath as i close my eyes and get off the table.

"Then...let me rephrase my last statement." I say as i walk closer to her.

"As long as you stay on my side...i won't care..." I say as i look at her.

Saeko turns to face me with a perplexed expression, yet, she did not speak.

"Because, i'm the one who gets to decide who i want to be kind to...not you...and sadly for you, you've picked one of the short straws on the matter." I say as i place my hand on the top of her head.

Saeko...just lowered her head slightly...

And in a quick motion, she leaned forward...until she ended up with her head on my chest as one of her hands grabbed on my jacket.

"I'm...sorry...my knees...buckled..." She says as she keeps her head lowered.

I just patted her head before i passed one arm around her back...

With her still holding on to me i take a few steps back, dragging her along before leaning on the table behind me. I lower my head until my chin touched her head and give the corpses behind the windowed wall one last glance before closing my eyes...

I...do not know how long we stayed like that...but it must have been for quite for some time, as my legs were starting to get numb.

"I can't promise you that i will make your life any better...but...i can promise you that as long as you stay with me, i will stay with you...

Also...on a second note...Uhh...it's not that don't like this but...uhh...if you keep grinding on me like that...we are going to have an accident on our hands" I say as i dart my eyes around without moving my head

"... And...you don't want to?" She responds as she passes her arms around my sides and to my back.

The realization of what Saeko just told me came with a short delay...but...

Instead of freaking out...or...you know...having another sort of reaction...

I...just could not shake off that feeling of guilt...

(I would expect my self to be panicking right now...but...why do i just feel like shit?...)

"...You...are mentally overloaded now...i...must not take advantage of the situation..." I say as i look away.

"...Hmm...but...i though you were an evil overlord...shouldn't you be trying to take advantage of situations like these" She responds as she turns to face me.

"You're really trying to put me in a corner here ain't you? And I thought i was supposed to be a penguin..." I say as i keep looking away.

Saeko stares at me for a moment before speaking again.

"Is it because of Saya?" She asks right after, causing me to dart my head to her.

"...The what who what now?" I ask as i felt cold sweat run on the back of my neck.

"You said...i picked one of the short straws...so that means there should be somebody who picked another...and she is the only other girl you really interact with...plus...the way you acted at the manor...you seem to at least care for her..." She says as she stares at me.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

(I could easily deny it...it's as easy as saying no...but...that would be a flat out lie...and...maybe this is why i feel like crap right now...because i also like Saya...)

"Nobody said that i was a shining beacon of morality..." I say as i open my eyes and look at the corpses over the window, who seemed to have given up on trying to get in and were just standing there now.

Saeko responded by tightening her grip on me and lowering her head...

And...several minutes passed in silence once again.

"Your promise to me...are you really...going to keep it?..." Saeko asks as she lifts her head to look at me again.

Glancing back at her i could see her staring at me.

I look away for a couple of seconds before bringing my hand to my mask. I then take it off along with the balaclava and turn to her.

(No hiding behind a mask for this...it's sink or swim)

"I want you with me Saeko" I say as i stared right into her eyes.

She responded by putting one of her hands to my shoulder and lifting her self up, bringing her face closer to mine. To the point that all i could see was her face.

"But what if Saya..."

"No matter what happens with Saya, i will still want you with me" I cut her off.

Saeko responded by tightening her grip on my shoulder as she moved her face closer...

And...then...neither of us spoke.

...We couldn't speak, even if we wanted to.


	26. Return to the mall

Saeko was checking around the room. Apparently, this place was also some sort of warehouse, as she found a couple of small stocks of several types of medicine. Shame we had no bags with us, so we could not really take anything...not that it mattered much for me at the moment...because...i was...uhh...

(Did that just really happen?... Maybe i passed out after i crashed into the window...and a corpse is actually chewing on my face right now...)

I take a quick glance at Saeko before lifting my hand to my face...and give it a strong pinch.

(Ow, f...Yep...definitely not dreaming...so that means...)

I shake my head, put my balaclava and mask back on and then jump off the table...

(ARGHH...come on...no time to be a little fucking princess...got shit that needs doing. You can be all flabbergasted later.)

"Naier, it seems there aren't any of them wandering on the other side of these windows, i think we could leave from here." Saeko speaks up as she checks the windows on the far end of the room for...the fourth time?

"Yea, but first, i need to find a weapon. I'm almost out of bullets...only two left in the handgun...and the shotgun is empty. Wonder if there's anything in here that i can use to poke corpses to death" I say as i walk up to her and look around.

"I don't know if you will find anything useful...i searched around the room and saw nothing that could be used as a weapon...all the drawers that are on the right wall have bottles and other types of medicine. The rest of the room has nothing even worth mentioning...and the corpses were unarmed" She replies as she turns around and scans the insides.

"Ok. So, then..."

"Don't worry. i'll deal with anything that will try to get in our way." She cuts me off as she turns to me and smiles.

"Well...i can't sit back and let you do all the work now, can i? " I say as i keep looking at her.

"But...you can rely on me...i want you to...rely on me." Saeko responds as she turns her sight towards the window.

I raise my hand towards my head and point at the ceiling as i open my mouth...but... i couldn't think of anything to say...

"And how am i supposed to have a comeback for something like this?" I ask as i let my hand drop.

Saeko just closes her eyes and laughs lightly though her nose before turning to me.

"Fine...until i find something, i'll stay behind you." I say as i fold my arms. Saeko responded with a nod, and a smile.

"So, let's get out of here?..." I 'ask' as i give the other side of the window one last check before opening it and jumping over to the grassy ground on the other side.

Straight ahead of me now was a concrete fence wall. To my left, i could see the road that connected to the front part of the clinic. To the right, a path that led to the back of the building. Another road was there, after what seemed to be... a small park?

"We need to go left to end up on the road we used to arrive here...but the front was overrun with corpses...let's go check how bad it is, if it's too crowded, we go from the back." I say as i turn to Saeko.

She nods and starts walking towards the front. Her hand resting on her Katana.

We didn't actually have to reach the end of the path to start hearing corpse moans...and the moment we reached the end...

"Yea...no. Judging from how many corpses are flocked on the road we need to take?...I'll say our group made quite the commotion while leaving." I whisper as i look at the overrun road that was straight ahead and to our left.

"Back then?" Saeko whispers without turning to look at me.

"Yea" I answer as i pat her shoulder and turn around.

We then walked all the way to the other side, and upon reaching the end, we checked the location.

"There are a bunch of corpses that seem to crawl towards the clinic, probably drawn by the noise. They are quite spread out though and are all still in the small..uhh...park? It has no trees what so ever, just a grassy field and some paved walkways...i do see a couple of cars near its end though. Still, we should be able to run past the corpses...and the road behind them looks clear...huh...i expected more corpses to be around...but...ehh not complaining."I say as i stare at the corpses that kept shambling towards the clinic.

"After we run past them and reach the street?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"Hmmm...we need to turn either left or right...then make a turn on the next intersection so we can end up going in the opposite direction from where we are going now. The mall is more or less a straight line from the clinic...so it won't matter which turn we take" I answer as i turn to her, she replies with a nod.

And so...after we spend a couple of seconds looking at each other, until it started to get awkward. We slowly sneaked out of the 'corridor' and started walking towards the small park.

I then also realized why there were not so many corpses walking towards the clinic, or at the street behind them...as there was a crapton of them already clawing at the clinic's back wall...thankfully they were fairly far away and didn't seem to pay any attention to us. I give Saeko a glance and motion her with my hand before breaking off into a sprint.

We bolted forward and headed straight towards the road ahead. Saeko quickly run past me and effortlessly cut down a couple of spread out corpses that were in our way.

(I feel like i'm playing a game with cheat codes with her around...)

I chuckle to my self as i run past the fallen corpses, the abandoned cars and into the street, where Saeko was waiting.

"Left or right?" I ask as i reach her.

"I don't think that plan is going to work Naier" Saeko responds as she turns to me.

"Huh, why?..what is the...oh crabs..." My own question got answered the moment i looked at the streets to my left and right...

Other than that that they were both crawling with corpses?...I guess the fact that there were a buttload of crashed and abandoned cars on both streets limited our mobility...too much for my liking...

"The road ahead is clear...even though it seems to be an uphill road, so i can't really tell what might be behind it..." I say as i look behind Saeko.

"We don't have much of a choice to do we?" She responds as she tilts her head slightly, i nod and point at the road ahead.

"Alright, same deal, straight...then left or right on next the intersection." I say as i start walking and turn to look at Saeko.

And so, we both start running up the hill, which was...well...empty.

(Guess all the corpses got drawn to the clinic...)

The moment we reached the next intersection which was actually on the top of the hill, the first thing i noticed...was the sea, that was straight ahead of us on a downhill road...and...even more negative results...

"Ohh come on..." I groan as i look at the toppled big rig that was blocking the right road...the road to the left led downhill...and was clear...but...

"I can see the next intersection on the left road...and it's..."

"A clusterfuck" I cut off Saeko as i look at the distant intersection...i guess that's why the left road was clear too...everything must have gathered at that intersection. Crashed cars, corpses, toppled poles...that intersection had it all...

"Uhh...how about a seaside walk?" I say i glance at Saeko before turning towards the road ahead.

It was a straight line towards the street that was next to the beach...about two intersections in distance. It did have a couple of corpses roaming about, but nothing like the fuckfest that was the left intersection.

"I didn't take you for the romantic type." Saeko responds with a slight smirk.

"Normally now i should say something in the likes of...'stick around, I'm full of surprises'...but yea, i'm not." I say as i tilt my head and turn to Saeko. She just chuckled.

"Well i don't see any other way" She says as she looks at the downhill road. I nod and we start moving again.

(We keep going further and further from the mall...but...uhh...i'm not complaining, not when i have Saeko with me)

I give her a quick glance as she kept running next to me.

"After we reach the split by the sea, we go right. The left intersection was a mess, so all we can do is try the right side now" I say as i keep running.

"And if the right is a no go too?" Saeko asks.

"We keep going till we find a clear one" I respond without looking at her.

And so, a couple of tumbling corpses later we reached the seaside road and turned right...and instantly stopped.

"You know what...I'm not even surprised anymore." I say as i raise my arms and look at the corpses that had blocked off the street.

"The beach looks empty." Saeko responds as she looks at the beach that was below us to our left.

"Yea...i can see a couple of stairs a little further off, we go down and walk past the grouped up corpses then walk back up to the street again." I say as i point at a staircase that was a couple of meters away.

With that, we run to the stairs and pretty much jump down before running straight towards the sea.

I stop take a look around after we picked up some distance from the street and then turn to Saeko.

"I can't see a single corpse...guess nobody thought of running here?" I say as i turn to look at the clogged road behind her.

"Works perfectly for us, doesn't it?" she responds.

"Yea...come on, i don't feel like running on the sand." I say as i motion her with my hand and turn to walk towards the left. Saeko nodded and started walking next to me.

And a couple of minutes later.

"In the end, we ended up on a seaside walk after all" I say as i chuckle, Saeko responds with a giggle.

"Still...i never realized we were so close to the sea..." I turn to look at the calm ocean to my left as i continue speaking.

"Me neither" Saeko responds. I turn to her and tilt my head.

"Really? Not normally from around here?" Saeko shakes her head after hearing my question.

"No...and...between my studies and my training...i didn't have much free time to take leisure walks" She responds.

"Hmm...i guess...we would all still be in our own little worlds, was it not for the outbreak" I say as i turn to look at the sea again.

(And my world...would probably be a prison)

"Our...worlds..." Saeko lowered her head slightly as she spoke.

"Say...if you do not mind me asking...what did you do before the outbreak?...Helping people film their guns aside..." She asks as she turns to me.

"I'm not sure you would want to know...trust me, very anti-climatic" I respond as i turn to her, she just kept staring at me with that 'tell me' expression.

And after she kept staring at me for a couple of seconds...

"Other than the training and the gun thing?...i...uh...stayed home and played video games...that's it..." I say as tilt my head, Saeko just kept looking at me, seemingly thinking of what to say.

(Well...that's what i did before i arrived 'here'...so i guess it's not a lie...as i didn't have much time for gaming after i realized where i was...)

"In the end, it took a zombie outbreak to make me leave my room and talk to people." I say as i laugh though my teeth, Saeko just smiles as she closes her eyes and laughs lightly through her nose.

"So...You didn't go out much?" She asks.

"Much? if i didn't have a reason to leave the house, i didn't leave the house" I answer. Saeko just looked at me without responding.

"Disappointed?" I ask. Saeko snaps out of what she was thinking, she then shakes her head as she lifts her hand and shakes it as well.

"Ohh, no no. I just... didn't expect you to be an indoors type..." She replies.

"Well...i am...was...am? Can't really tell anymore..." I tilt my head from left to right as i speak.

We kept silent for a couple of minutes as we walked down the empty beach, the corpses on the road staying ever oblivious.

"It's funny you know...if this didn't happen...i probably would never have met any of you..." I say as i keep walking. Saeko just glances at me before looking at the ground.

"Y...yea..." Was all she said, her eyes still looking at her feet. I glance at her...and take a big breath

"I mean just think about it...Saeko, esteemed kendo club leader and winner of the Kyoto Kendo Tournament...caught kissing with a shut-in whose surname is pronounced wrong by half the school staff." I say as i hold my back my laughter, raise both arms and spread them like i was showing off a billboard.

Saeko lifts her head and looks at me with a raise eyebrow...until...

"Khh...sorry, sorry...i know this is not something i should joke about but...you looked down in the dumps and couldn't think of anything better..." I say as i turn to look at her.

She says nothing. Just...looks at me and smiles...Then moves closer and passes her arm around mine, locking it between her arm and...uhh...breast.

I decided to just keep my mouth shut...as i had a feeling that anything i might have said now...would have ended up with a trap question.

(...I could tell her that i killed Shido and Tsunoda...but...i don't want her to believe that i accepted her because i've done worse than her...i would still have accepted her no matter the case...the fact that i killed these two...had nothing to do with this...it does make for a good trump card though.)

We kept moving down the beach like that for some time...to the point that we had moved way past the clustered corpses. We could move back to the street right now...but there was something that caught my attention. A house down in the distance, i could see a path that led all the way to the sea from it and it ended with what seemed to be a small cement dock. The house itself was surrounded by a tall fence. And...yea...having Saeko lock my arm like that, i obviously wanted this to last as much as possible, so why would i want to go back up on the corpse infested streets?.

"That house in the distance, with the small dock...if it's clear let's take a break there before we go back into running in the streets." I say as i point at it with my free hand. Saeko nods as she looks at where i was pointing.

The house was three buildings in distance, so it did not take long for us to reach it. Once near, Saeko let go of my arm as we checked at the back gate that led into the house.

"Locked, and i don't see any corpses inside," I say as i look into the house's back yard.

"Think there are survivors inside?" She asks as she looks at the closed windows, curtains obstructing the view inside.

"If there are, they are doing a really bad job at fortifying this place." I say as i pass my arm between the steel pickets and press on the gate's handle. The gate opens effortlessly.

I walk inside and motion Saeko to come inside with my head. The moment she walked in i close the gate and pull the handgun.

"Let's do a quick sweep on the perimeter, then check the insides." I say as i lift the handgun.

I move straight ahead, while Saeko went to the left to check the other side.

(This place has its own garage...this...could be perfect for the Humvee if it's clear.)

I think as i keep moving. By the time i reached the front gate Saeko had also reached the front, she nodded at me before i did the same. I then turned to look at the house's main entrance.

(Huh?...the door is half-open...)

I point at the door as i look at Saeko. She nods and starts moving towards it. With my gun pointed at the door, i also move towards it.

The moment we reached it i gave it a light kick and moved aside. Yet, nothing happened...the insides were as clear as they could be...from here at least. As the only thing we could see was a small hallway that led to an open room that had a big table set in the middle. I give Saeko a quick glance, and with a nod, we move into the house.

The moment we stepped in, i scanned the insides.

To my left, a couple of meters away, i could see a door under a big widescreen tv, probably leading to the garage, over the table behind a closed curtain was a relatively big sliding glass door. To my right, i could see an open wall kitchen to the far end of the room, next to it a staircase, followed by a wall that run all the way to where i was standing. That wall also had one door in it, along with several painting portraits.

"Whoever was here, wasn't short on cash." I say as i look around the room.

There was no sign of struggle anywhere, guess they left when shit hit the fan?

"I will go check the upper floor." Saeko says shortly after as she moved towards the staircase.

"I will check the two doors on the first floor, then join up with you" I respond.

With that, we split up...and...i got to admit...

(I know she can handle her self...but...uhh...yea i'm worried...but she won't do anything stupid now...i hope...God, if i start getting clingy now...ughh...everything with a limit Naier...everything with a limit)

I shake my head and head to the door that was to my left, under the giant tv. Opening the door i find my self in the garage.

Other than a small workstation that had various tools on it to my left...there were two things that caught my attention. A big ass jeep...and a wooden boat.

The jeep looked like a silver Maserati Levante, shaded windows and all...so i guess i was right, these people must have been rich...which made it all weirder...as the boat was a small wooden one, no engine, just paddles. It was well preserved and on a trailer that was linked up to the car.

(What's with the boat?...If the people here were decked i would expect that they at least had a zodiac...but...uhh...a wooden boat...near the sea...)

My thoughts got interrupted by the sound of something 'bumping' into the car. I instantly aim my gun at the car and stare at it. After staring for a while i kneel down and check under the car.

(Clear)

I get up again and scan the garage.

"Uhhh...Mantis drops organic polymer..." I say with a relatively loud voice...and seconds later, another bump, coming straight from the insides of the car.

I walk closer to the car and try to see inside.

"Fucking tinted windows, ain't that supposed to be illegal or something?" I groan under my breath as i move to the front of the car.

Thankfully, the front windshield was not shaded, so i had a clear view of the insides now.

"Well...that explains the bumping..." I say as i look at the zombified people in the car.

A well-dressed man and woman were on the front seats. The man, who was on the driver's seat had a small part of his neck missing on the right part, the woman had a small bite mark on her left arm...and...i could see a small kid on the back moving about, next to it...uhh...the remains of another kid?

"Guess being rich ain't gonna help ya if your own kid comes after you." I say as i move towards the boat and lower the gun.

"Still...why a wooden boat people?...At least get something bigger, ain't you rich?" I say as i turn back to look at the car, obviously, i got no response...other than the bumping.

I turn to leave the garage, closing the door behind me.

"Next, the door next to the stairs." I say as i pass by the giant table in the living room.

Upon reaching the door, i ready my gun again and grab the handle. I then swing the door open and make a quick jump back, pointing the gun towards the open door.

(Empty...expected as much...but not being careful is equal to suicide, i'd rather look like an idiot and stay alive)

Still...i did take a quick glance around me to make sure Saeko did not come back down before moving into the room.

That room...well it looked like a study. I could see an expensive looking desk on the far end of the room to my left, the wall ahead of me was made up of windows, with the curtains all closed and the wall next to me on my left, a long bookcase.

I walk up to the bookcase and pick a book, the sign of the medical cross on it. I then put it back and pick another...a medical book again. I repeated the process a couple of times...same result.

(Hmm...one of the two here was a doctor?)

I think as i leave the book in my hands on a stand next to me. I then look at the room again, my eyes stopping on a wooden door behind the desk.

Waking up to the door i again grab the hand and ready the gun. Swinging the door open i sidestep while moving backward and stare insides of the new room.

(Ehhh...a bathroom...well...it could have some medical stuff...but we just left a shit ton of that crap in the clinic)

I shake my head and turn around, giving the room one last glance before leaving.

Upon entering the living room i move towards the stairs to my right. Going up the stairs i find my self in a rather big corridor with five doors, two doors on each wall to my left and right and one door straight ahead, three of the doors were open. I walk to furthest open door that was to my right and peek inside, Saeko was there, looking at dresses that were inside a wardrobe.

"Umm...i think monsters usually hide under the bed" I say as i point at the double bed next to Saeko.

Reacting to my voice she closes the wardrobe and turns to me

"These people...must have been pretty wealthy, everything in here is rather expensive" She responds.

"Ohh, i know. You must see their car, could give our Humvee a run for its money...didn't save them though" I say as i turn to look back towards the stairs.

Saeko stayed quiet for a couple of seconds.

"You found the owner of the house?" She asks

"Yea, inside the car, corpsified. Think one of their kids got infected and then turned inside the car." I say as i turn to her again. She responded by staying quiet.

"I also found a small wooden boat." I add up.

"Small wooden boat? Are you sure it was theirs? they don't look like the people to have such a thing" She asks again.

"Yea, don't ask me...maybe they liked passing their time rowing the sea in a dinghy boat like the rest of us plain people." I say as i shrug...Saeko responds with a chuckle.

"Normal people row the seas in dinghy boats? I didn't know that" She responds as she tilts her head slightly with a smile.

"Ehh, probably? Never rowed a boat in my life. Come on let's check the last two rooms" I say as i turn around. Saeko nods and follows behind me.

The next room ahead of us was a kid's room...and honestly, i could not tell if it was for a boy or a girl...it looked...plain. No toys what so ever, it did have an expensive-looking computer and another double-sized bed though...shame the computer did not work, must have been quite the beast.

The last room?...turned out to be another bathroom...

"Well think we are in the clear." I say as i walk towards the stairs.

"Yes, the house seems clear, so we stay here for some time?" Saeko asks.

"Taking a break sounds nice...and i want to check the study again, it was full of medical books, might find something helpful." I say as i look back at Saeko.

Yet before either of us could react, i heard a loud growl...coming from my stomach...reminding me that i have not eaten for...well..quite some time now. Saeko just...stared at me.

"I'm going to the study..." I say as i turn around walk down the stairs.

(Jeez, thanks body, next time ruin the moment by making other weird fucking noises.)

As or a response, my stomach made another low growl.

(Maybe i should check the kitchen for something while i'm at the study... the truth is, i have not eaten for a day or so...)

And so i went to the first floor, stormed the kitchen and stole two carrots...yea...carrots, and headed back to the study.

I then must have spent half an hour or so looking at books.

(Hmm...interesting...)

I slowly bite down on the second carrot as i leaned on the expensive boss style chair.

(...Indeed...very interesting...this must be the sixth book i tried to read...and i still don't understand jack shit.) I shut the book and lean back on the chair.

(But they could be helpful for Shizuka...hmm i should check for a bag...gamble it and take the ones that look the most fancy.)

I get up and throw the two carrot stumps in the trash bin that was next to the desk.

(Yea, let's do that, the jeep in the garage might have bags in the trunk.)

Yet...the moment i opened the study's door...something else caught my attention...and nose...i was smelling...cooked...meat?

(The hell?...I'm going delirious? didn't realize i was THAT hungry.)

But i soon realized i was not...smelling things. Saeko was in the kitchen, in what i suspect was a male long-sleeved buttoned shirt. Her hair tied up to a ponytail as she stood over a gas-operated stove. On the table behind her two dishes side by side, i could already see some cut vegetables on the plates.

Probably hearing the door closing behind me Saeko turns to me.

"Food is almost ready, you might want to take off your gloves and jacket...and the mask..or you can somehow pass things though it?" She asks with a smile.

"Huh...what...who...what..huuuuhh?..." I tilted my head. Saeko just giggled.

"The fridge here is pretty good, everything inside was still cold, and i found this gas cooker in a shelve...soo..." She turns her head back to the cooker, looking at the sizzling meat on the pan. I...just scratched my mask.

(Well...she did find out that i was hungry...but still...I'm moved.)

"Uhh...why are you wearing...that?" I ask as i keep staring at Saeko.

"Hmm, my clothes were a little dirty so i tossed a shirt over them, that way i won't get anything on the food by accident." She responds.

"Makes sense...well uhh...i will check the garage for something then go to the bathroom..." I say as i turn around and enter the garage.

The moment i got inside i went to the trunk of the car and tried opening it, the trunk did not budge.

"Huh...figures..gonna need the keys...or breaking the glass." I speak to my self as i look at the tool rack.

On it, i could see several screwdrivers, some saws, a blowtorch and a crowbar. The last two things seemed interesting. The blowtorch could easily start fires, the crowbar?...i had corpses that needed dealing with.

I grab the crowbar and go to the front door, giving in a knock.

"Sir do you know how fast you were going?" I say as i look at the window, as i could not see inside i waited for a bit, until i saw a face bumping against the window.

"I would like you to get out of the car and walk in a straight line sir." I pull the doors handle and using it as cover, i quickly open it and stay behind it.

The corpse almost jumps out of the car and lands on the floor with a growl. I close the door and walk up to the corpse.

"Nope, that ain't walking, sir." I bring the straight point of the crowbar down on the back part of the corpse's head, before pulling it back out and leaving it on the tool table.

"...ok...keys." I say as i turn around, open the door again and take a step back.

Inside, the woman was trying to reach me, her hands extending towards me. The seatbelt was stopping her though. The little one on the back seat was also trying to get to me, from the gap between the driver's seat and the driver's door, though only one of its hands was sticking out.

I grab the small hand and pull it before slamming the door shut. A loud crack, and the hand then got bent in a direction it normally should not.

"Sorry bout that" I say as i open the door again and take the keys out of the ignition switch.

The moment i turned around, the door that led to the living room swung open, Saeko barging in, sword in hand.

"What happened?! Are you alight?" She asks...or well...shouts as she looks at me..before looking at the corpse on the floor...then at the dangling hand next to the driver's seat...and then stares back at me.

"I needed the keys?...oh and i found a weapon." I say as i lift the key and jiggle them with one hand and grab the crowbar with the other...Saeko just sighs as she lowers her head before looking back at me.

"You scared me." She says as she stares at me.

"Sorry..." Was all said as i moved away from the door, Saeko just kept looking at me.

"Saeko...i made a promise to you, didn't i?...I won't be going anywhere for as long as you need me...a man must never go back on his word...right?" I say as i walk to the trunk and turn to her.

Saeko's eyes went slightly wide as she stared at me before smiling and turning around.

"Sweet talker." Was all she said before leaving the garage, closing the door behind her.

(Am i?...But i really meant it...)

I think as i open the trunk...and my brain instantly told me that i had to focus on what i was seeing.

"Holy crabs, these people were repaired..." I think as i take the bags out of the trunk and close it, so i would not end up having a second meeting with the small corpse.

"Let's see..two hicking backpacks and three large duffle bags" I kneel down as i speak and open the first duffle bag.

Clothes, jewelry...high heel shoes...make up...and some uhh..pink proof that the husband did not pay enough attention to somebody on the bed.

"Really?...my disappointment...is immense..." I groan as i keep searching the bag, but in the end, i found nothing...nothing that i needed at least.

I grab the duffle bag and toss it aside, then open the second one.

This bag had books, some tools like scalpels inside another bag and other medical equipment like disinfectants and the such.

"Hmm if the doctor decided to take these books...then they must be the good books...right?..." I take the bag and push it to the side, in the opposite direction of the bag i tossed before, and then open the last duffle bag.

This one, had a good amount of gas canisters inside, along with what seemed to be a gas stove with three burners.

"Ohhh, now this is something." I say to my self as i keep looking inside.

And soon, i also found another treasure in there.

"Ohhh...wait a minute...this looks like that expensive Canadian water filter i found in the net before the outbreak...it costed...like five hundred dollars?...Supposedly it was designed for military use...talk about a lucky break" I broke into a grin as i shoved the bulky cylinder back into the bag with the gas canisters and pushed it next to the bag with the medical equipment.

The two hicking bags did not have anything worthy of note...or well...they had a couple of bottles of water treatment pills and some hiking gear, like ice picks and parts of a tent. Ok maybe calling them not worthy of note was a bit stretched...but after finding that duffle bag with the water purifier and the gas canisters, the rest didn't seem to have that much of an impact on me.

"Could i use the ice pick as a weapon?...hmm...with the way it's build though...it looks easy for it to get lodged inside a head and stay there" I shake my head and get up as i look at the bloody crowbar on the tool table.

(No need to fix what ain't broken, the crowbar is good enough for now...Alright, bathroom time)

Right before i managed to open the door, it opened by itself, Saeko appearing behind it.

"The food...is ready..." She says as she glances around before staring at me...i think her face was...slightly flushed?

"Hm, i was just done, i will go to the bathroom to clean off my gloves and arm guards..." I say as i nod, Saeko smiles and nods back before turning around.

"And be ready to carry some stuff to the Humvee before we go back to the mall" I speak up as i walk next to her.

"Found something good?" She asks as she turns to me and tilts her head.

"Good...is a mighty understatement" i replied with a grin as i kept looking forward.


	27. Return to the mall Pt 2

...My life...well...it feels like a rip off from a cheesy romance anime right now.

I mean...Saeko made me lunch...that alone is fine...ish...but...Uhh...let's see...She placed the plates next to each other, and ever since taking a seat...she did not even try to 'hide' the fact that she was staring at me. So i only managed to take a couple of bites before turning to stare back at her.

"You don't like it?" She asks as she tilts her head, her eyebrows making a slightly worried frown.

"That...should be my question. You haven't even touched your food yet..." I answer as i look at her.

"I'm...just a bit anxious...the only person that has really tasted my cooking is my father...if you exclude Miss Shizuka's house...though i guess in the end, we didn't manage to actually eat back there..." She says as she turns to look at my plate.

"Hmm...i don't have much to weight it against...it's much better than my cooking, so...yea, i definitely won't say no to another chance at eating what you can make" Saeko listening to my answer finally smiles and nods before speaking up again.

"You can cook?" She asks as she picks her fork and knife. She made western food...was it because i was not Japanese?...I'm looking at a full-sized steak here...as in western size, thus the lack of chopsticks...

"Uhh, well i was living by my self, wasn't i?" I answer as i cut a small part of the steak and bring it close to my mouth.

(Truth is... i didn't cook even once ever since coming here...but i do 'know' how to cook...still my cooking skills are...wet paper level.)

"Hmm, i would like to..."

"Nope, not going to happen, for your sake" I cut off Saeko as she tries to speak. She just turns to stare at me, i kept looking at my plate. Seconds later she giggled and turned back to her own plate.

The rest of the 'lunch break' went on without us speaking...though i did catch Saeko giving me an occasional 'sneak' peek.

Once we were done Saeko then took the plates to the sink to wash them, good thing too, as i intended to return here after the mall fell. The last thing i need is having the place stink like rotten food. Now, why i wanted to return here? Two reasons mainly.

The first one was that with a garage this big, we could easily hide the Humvee inside if we somehow managed to move the jeep out of the way...the second was...the wooden boat...if it's somehow connected to the anime...then i know where that boat is headed...

"You sure you don't want any help?" I ask as i look at the sink.

"Naier, it's just two plates" She responds with a chuckle as she turns to look at me.

"Alright, i will be on the couch, don't think i want to toss around duffle bags with a full stomach." I say as i turn around and walk towards the living room...only to realize...

(Huh...there is no couch here...what the hell?)

I dart my head around and spot two recliners in the corner.

(Hmm, that could work)

I walk over to the recliners and then drag them to the center of the room, next to the giant table...don't know..having them in the corner...nudged me the wrong way. I then put them in a facing position and sit on one, while i put my legs on the other...and yea i had taken off my shoes at the bathroom, before eating.

I let out a small sigh and look at the giant screen.

(Only if you worked and had a console under you...while if i'm more of a PC type of guy...i would be fine with just about anything right about now...expect of sports games, never liked sports games)

I chuckle to my self and close my eyes after fixing the mask and balaclava that i had warped around my right shoulder...

I..must have nearly fallen asleep before i heard footsteps near me...and as i was about to take my legs off the second recliner...something stopped me...then... i felt pressure on the left part of my hip, which followed up to my left shoulder, along with something slithering on my back.

I slightly open one eye to see Saeko's face resting on my shoulder, her eyes closed and her free hand placed near my neck. She was also in her 'normal' clothing.

(Well...maybe i can't play video games...but...this is a good damn alternative)

I close my eyes again and...i'm pretty sure i fell asleep.

... ... ...

...You know...there is something i'm forgetting...i'm sure of it...there is something i forgot...but what...

The car with the zombies?...Nahh, i closed that...the doors that lead outside?...Nope, closed them too...

Uhhh...the gas stove...No, Saeko was the one that cooked...uhhh...what am i forgetting...

I..felt my self waking up...because my left shoulder felt...wet...I open my eyes to look at Saeko...

(..Uhh...Saeko...drools...i forgot that Saeko drools...Oh come on...)

Saeko had her mouth slightly open, part of it touching my shoulder...and uhh...yea...that part felt wet...

(Uhh...well...it's not like i'm disgusted...i mean...we kissed...and it was not just our lips that touched...but...uhh...i can't sleep now, i feel wet...i don't like feeling wet...I could try to close her mouth but...i don't want to wake her up...actually, how long have i been asleep?...i don't feel tired if that counts for anything)

I look around the room without trying to move too much. The sun was still out...and it didn't seem to be any darker outside...

(Hmm..the rich dude might have a wristwatch)

And well...now i was stuck on the chair with Saeko being off to dreamland...

(If i'm rooted here...might as well make the best of it. Lets see...if we count the anime timeline...

After the group returns...Takashi, Kohta and Asami have a chat on how the clinic was a total failure, while the rest talk about several things, such as Kohta and Asami or how there is somebody or something for each one that keeps them going. This is were Saeko and Rei think of Takashi...or how Saeko mentions that if the guys in the group end up going got out of control they, as in the girls, must do everything they can for them...in other words that was a mild way of saying, 'fuck them till they calm down'...

Yea i'm having mixed feelings about that memory now...Anyway...after that Asami sees the dead cop and snaps, lashing out at Khota. This is where the group prepares to leave...now...so far i didn't manage to get rid of that dead cop...and depending how 'late' i will be when i return to the mall...I might end up being too late...as it would be much worse if i get caught while i'm trying to deal with the corpse...worse that Asami just seeing it...Hmm... well i could...)

Saeko then starts moving about. She lifts her free hand in the air, arching her back as she stretches with a moan. Taking a deep breath shortly after.

(...I'm...not...staring...)

Yea, no. I was staring...hard...i mean, give me a break here...Saeko rubs her eyes with one hand before opening them to look at me...at least she was not drooling now.

"Hmm...how...long did we sleep?" She asks with drowsy eyes.

As she moved about her hand ended up on the spot where her head was at...she blinks several times before turning to look at the wet stain on my shirt...or...well where the stain would normally be at, you know, black clothes. None the less Saeko's eyes instantly snap open as she tries to get up...

"Aaahh i'm so soo.o..owh!" Was all she managed to say before she slipped backward because of the award position, ending up with her back on the floor, her legs still on mine.

"You know, if you'll end up killing your self because you drooled on me, then i'd rather have you droll on me...i hope this did not come off as weird as i think it just did..." I say fix my posture and extend my arm to Saeko. She then takes my arm as she gets up.

"I'm really, really sorry" Was the first thing she said as she lowered her head.

"It's fine, now if you keep saying that you're sorry, then...i'll be mad" I say in a joking manner.

"I really didn't mean to..."

"Aaaand, no more of it, i said it's fine...or...you don't believe me?" I ask as i raise my eyebrows and stare at Saeko...She...just stayed quiet, her face slightly red.

"So this is the fabled trap question...hmm...i think your skills are starting to rub off on me" I say as i get up and pat her head. Saeko just lets out a slight sigh and smiles.

"As for your question, i got no idea how long we slept...no clocks...so i will check the male corpse in the garage. Usually, guys with suits like these wear expensive wristwatches, if we are lucky and he has a mechanical one, then we can see the time" I say as i stretch and start walking towards the garage.

"Alright...i will get my sword and join up with you. You said that we needed to carry some stuff didn't you?" Saeko responds with a mild tone as she moves towards the kitchen, her face still as red.

"Yea that too" I respond as i open the garage door.

Before i moved inside i looked at the bloody floor around the corpse.

(I better get my shoes.)

And so after going to the bathroom and wearing my boots and armguards. I then went to the corpse that was lying head down and checked its arms, and sure enough, i saw a silver watch on his left arm. I kneel down and look at the watch, it was still ticking.

"You people...are like an ssr drop in a mobile game" I say as i take the watch and look at the time.

(Five and forty)

I then check the man's pockets and find the keys that i think belonged to the house.

Just then, Saeko also walked into the room.

"Five and forty" I say as i turn to her and show her the watch in my hand before shoving it to my pocket.

"Not going to wear it?" She asks as she tilts her head.

"Too shiny for my likes" I respond as i move to the two duffle bags.

"These two...hmm...we need as much as we can from one duffle bag, the one with the gas canisters, the other...we can take what seems important...so let's see if we can fit all that in the two hiking bags" I say as i point at the duffle bags and then at the thinking bags. Saeko nods and walks up next to me.

(While i'm aiming to return here...i don't want to leave all that stuff..what if the house gets raided while we are gone..or we just can't come here in the end)

We then emptied the two duffle bags and also took everything out of the hicking bags, then started putting things back into the hicking bags, by order of importance...it went something like...Water filter/purifier, gas stove, canisters, books and lastly the disinfectants. The tools did not catch too much space so we just shoved them in as well, don't know if Shizuka knows how to use that type of stuff though. We mostly ignored disinfectants as we just looted the clinic and Saeko told me that we took a good amount of stuff like that in 'our' bags.

In the end, we had one hicking bag with the medical stuff, out of the fifteen books we took eight. We also did put some medical bottles in the small pockets of the hicking bag that could not fit anything else, and we kept the water treatment pills that were already in the bags, along with the medical tools and the stove.

The gas canisters...we had to take the duffle bag itself, the hicking bag did not fit even half of them inside...

"What's in the duffle bag over there?" Saeko asks as she moves towards the one that i had tossed aside, the one that had all the...'female' stuff.

Saeko peered inside the bag...her eyes then went slightly wide as she just turned around and came back to me.

"Curiosity killed the cat?" I ask with a slight smirk, Saeko just laughed awkwardly as she scratched her cheek.

I then take the balaclava and mask off my shoulder and wear them before turning back to her...she looked at me for a couple of seconds and...

"Just when i was starting to get used to your face" She says as she slightly tilts her head.

"...Getting used huh...never realized my face was so bad that it needed getting used too" I say as i raise an eyebrow. Saeko giggles and shakes her head.

"...You know that's not what i meant." She responds as she smiles at me. i nod as i laugh through my nose and turn to the bags.

"Ok...so...we need to find a road that goes...uhh" I lift the duffle bag and pass it over my shoulder, the move an pick up the crowbar.

"If we leave the house from the front, we need to keep moving straight" Saeko adds right after.

"Right...hmm...i wonder" I walk back to the trunk and take the keys. Then walk to the driver's seat and open the door, put the keys in the ignition switch, and flip them...nothing.

"Pfft, expensive car my ass, doesn't even have E.M.P protection." I say in a half-joking manner i close the door.

"Do you remember how many intersections we passed to get from the mall to the clinic?" I ask as i turn to Saeko.

"Hmm...six...i think" She responds.

"Ok...plus two, three if we count the seaside road...so either nine, or ten in total" Saeko nods at me as i speak.

"The Humvee is to the right with the way we are facing it now...we moved a relatively long distance when we walked on the beach, so we need to leave and go right...if the corpse group is still there and has not moved, we need to count two intersections from them..otherwise we just take a random right intersection and keep going till we see the mall, it's a rather tall building after all" I say as i try to get a better grip on the bag...but uhh...didn't make me look any less stupid with the duffle bag looking like a sign over my head.

"Shotgun, and we're good to go." i say as i move to the living room and take the shotgun from the big table.

"...Right...sling." I groan as i take off the duffle bag and pass the shotgun over my shoulder before wearing the duffle bag again...

"Ok...now...ready?" I ask as i turn to Saeko and fix my jacket, she nods with a serious expression.

With that, we move to the front door. I open it and walk outside, Saeko follows behind me, before stopping to look behind her, at the insides of the house...

"Forgot something?" I ask. Saeko turns to me as she shakes her head with a smile.

"No, let's go" She responds as she closes the door.

"Ohh wait, wait, wait" I flail my arms as Saeko closes the door, causing her to freeze.

"Huh, wha..." I put the keys i took from the corpse and check if they fitted the door, which they did.

"This place would be a good spot if we ever need to leave the mall" I say as i turn to Saeko...she stayed quiet for some seconds before nodding. I then move to the front gate of the house and look outside.

"Uhh...better we go from the back" I point at the roaming corpses as i speak.

After i locked the gate and front yard door we turned around and went towards the gate we used to enter the building. The beach was...still clear.

(I would expect corpses to gather at the sea, ambient noise...yet they seem to avoid it...i wonder if they don't like water...i mean hypothetically speaking, if all they can do is hear and feel, being submerged would gimp both their senses...but can they 'not' like something in the first place?...they don't seem to have the mental capacity for it)

"Is something wrong? " Saeko asks. I realize that i was just staring at the gate without doing anything.

"No, i am just wondering why corpses ain't gathering at the sea...the the waves do make some noise after all...probably not loud enough?" I ask as i open the gate.

"Uhh...i don't know..." Saeko just lifts her shoulders slightly. After that, we closed the gate lock it and turned left, going back the same way we came.

We walked for a bit before i spotted the grouped up corpses in the distance...they...didn't seem to have moved...then again i didn't really check where they were the first time around...so i was just going by hunch.

"Ok we will go up on the upcoming staircase and then we will go left on the second intersection" I point at a set of stairs in the distance, Saeko nods without speaking.

And so, after reaching the stairs we went up and then continued straight until we reached the targeted intersection, that thankfully was clear. We then went up that intersection and i mean 'up' because it was once again an uphill road.

(I don't mean to whine...but should this duffle bag be this fucking heavy?...)

I groan under my breath as i kept walking up the road, Saeko in front of me with her hand on the sword's hilt. The corpses that roamed about were mostly by themself so we just avoided any parts of the road that had more than one corpse in close vicinity...and if we found a lone corpse clocking the way?...well...Saeko didn't seem to miss the chance the rip its arms off and beat it with them...uhh...actually she just decapitated them...though i can clearly imagine her doing the first one too.

"Can you keep going, want to stop for a bit?" She asks as she glances at me while we kept moving.

"I'm fine, you're the one jumping around with that sword, not me." I respond, Saeko just smiles before nodding, then turned to look at the street ahead.

Shortly after we reached the first intersection...which felt weird...because it was also on the top of the hill...I look around the intersection and then notice that there was a big rig at the end of the street to our right...with a crapload of corpses next to it.

"Hmm the big rig?...if it is on the next intersection to our right...that means we are one intersection next to the road we used...so we actually need to move one intersection left" I say as i turn to look at the road to our left and then at the street ahead. Truth is, the road ahead seemed to be in a much better condition...

"Are you sure we should go left?" Saeko asks as she looks at the corpses that roamed on the street.

"No, we can turn left later, worst case we will go all the way to the mall on this street, then turn on an intersection before we get too close, most roads there are in a better state if compared to here" I answer and i motion Saeko to keep moving forward with my hand, she nods and starts walking next to me.

( If we find a blocked off road ahead of us after we walked passed the clinic, we could then try to take the same road we used to come here...if our group didn't march like a parade on their return.)

The road we took started going downhill and much to my surprise, i could see that it was 'clear' for a relatively long distance.

(Then again if they did march back like a parade, like shooting a gun for example, corpses from this road might have moved away, or gathered to the right side of the road. Still, it makes me wonder...what are they doing right now?...

I mean in the manga they talked about the clinic incident...but we don't know if that's the first thing they did after returning...and while this time we had no deaths...the incident did happen, that being me and Saeko getting stranded. So...let's say that they don't give a single fig about me...Takashi would still want to at least try and save Saeko...huh...on one hand...it makes me extra salty that i know that he also likes her...on the other, i know that he will try to look after her...so i don't expect them to just write us off for dead.)

I stop thinking and take a look around me. I nod to my self and turn my head towards Saeko, who was now in front of me.

(So...i will say that instead of talking about the clinic's failure, they would be talking about rescuing us? That would probably end with some of them wanting to wait, while others will want to go out and search...now if that happens...i have no idea who would vote what...as from a logical point of view, going out to look for us is like looking for a needle in a haystack...a cannibalistic and batshit crazy haystack.

Then again, i can't see them just sitting on their thumbs either...so?...maybe they have somebody looking out for us on the roof...Kohta maybe? He did do this once before when mapping the surrounding area so it seems possible...but if he has Asami with him...and she is looking outside as well...she might spot the cop...uhh...well i'm just speculating here so i can't really tell, they could... )

"Naier we are nearing the clinic" Saeko speaks up as she turns to glance at me.

I look around but i could not make out anything that looked like the clinic, it was supposed to be on the intersection next to us after all.

"You counted the intersections we..."As i start speaking, Saeko casually wacks a corpse on the head with the blade's sheath, causing it to take several steps back before it fell on its ass...

I follow the corpse with my eyes until i was looking behind me...to see that the road we took had...a 'line' of corpses that were all moving about...as they laid on the ground...

"Passed...them" I turn to Saeko as i finish my sentence to see her nod with a 'mhm'.

(...I kind of forgot that she's a frigging badass with the way she acted back at the house...)

Soon we reached the next intersection and sure enough, i could see a small park in the distance to my right. I then turn to look straight ahead, to see that the road was indeed clear.

"We can keep going straight...so let's keep going straight, once we are near the mall, we will turn left one intersection, that will lead us to the Humvee" i move next to Saeko and point at the road ahead of us, and with that, we start moving again.

(Hmm...wait...one intersection?...as the road that leads to the clinic is a straight line that ends at the mall...this road should lead to the parking field. The Humvee was on the second intersection after that...so it's two intersection from where we are now...not one...)

"Uhh, nothing to be alarmed of, but it might be two intersections to the left, not one...without a map or some sort of drawing i can't remember the exact distance" I say as i scratch my mask.

"That isn't a problem, don't worry" Saeko, glances at me and smiles.

As we kept moving forward i noticed that the corpses that roamed about had actually gathered to the right part of the street.

"Hmm, looks like i was right...our group did go with the 'loud and stupid' approach, as the road to our right should be the road they took to return, and all the corpses are gathered towards the right" I say as i look at the corpse and walk-up at Saeko. Then motion her to move more to the left, and soon, we ended up walking next to each other. With Saeko to my right.

We kept going in silence for some time, what corpses were on the left part of the road, were the ones that could not move to begin with, stuck in a crashed car, or behind a dumpster...or walking up against a pole...you know...normal stuff.

"There is something i have been wondering for some time now..." Saeko begins talking as we walk.

"Why did you let Takashi become the group leader...so far...most of our decisions were made based on your actions and ideas..." She turns her head to me as she speaks.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"When Takashi wanted to go to the police station after he and Miyamoto got split from the group, you said we should meet up at the park instead. When we got stuck at the barricade near the estate, you were the one that thought of using the flashbang. At the estate, we went with your plan of using the Humvee to drive the horde away...and here...it was you who gave the 'payment' idea for team that went to the clinic..." She keeps staring at me after she finishes.

"For one...the reason i could make these decisions, was because i was not the leader, i find it easier to think when i don't have everybody over my head...and...well...i can bearly take care of a pet dog...no way i'm going to try and take care of a group of people" I say as i shrug...

"I see...so...you find it easier to move the threads behind the spotlight?...Alice must have known something to name you evil overlord" She says as she makes a slight grin. I chuckle as i shake my head.

"With the way i change nicknames, i wonder which one will be next...i still need to find who called me a Penguin" I tilt my head as i speak.

"Shizuka" Saeko answers flatly.

"...Huh...should have figured..." I say as i turn back to the street ahead.

(And...there is one more reason i don't want to lead... as most of my decisions were based under one important fact that you don't know...that i know what is going to happen...but...that isn't going to last...how long will it be until we reach Rei's mother?...After that...i'll lose the only 'real' power i had in this shitshow...I might be able to make decisions for my self...i mean, at least survived the power plant...but my decisions for the group were not on even ground compared to Takashi's...and after Rei's mother...Takashi might prove to be a better leader than me...this is why try to keep him on the steering wheel...)

And after some time had passed, that i saw a building that stood taller than the rest.

"I see the mall, not too far now" I look at the structure in the distance as i speak, Saeko nods as she also looks at the same direction.

"Should we turn left now?" She asks right after.

"Yea, first clear road, we go left two times" I respond.

And that turn ended up being two intersections later, from there we went straight and then turned right as the road ahead was not what you can call...safe...so we ended up going left again on the next intersection. The moment we reached the end of that road i looked around and...

(Huh...wait a minute...)

I look to my right to see a silver sedan with a couple of corpses surrounding it from the opposite direction that i was looking from...and to my left...a big group of corpses in the distance...to the right part of the street.

"I used this road with Takashi when we went to the Humvee, it should be on the right, past the silver sedan, next intersection has the tree cluster" I say as i point that the car that i took a break on with Takashi.

"Almost there" Saeko picks up the pace as we walked past the silver car and into the last straight line...

Which we passed with no real trouble, again...thanks to Saeko. The moment we reached the tree cluster i motion Saeko and we enter before taking a last look around us.

The moment we reached the spot that the Humvee was at i kneel down and check under the car before going to over to the trunk, i lift the net and put my hand in my pocket...

...

(...Are you shiting me?)

I put my hand in the other pocket and find the keys.

(Ohh never mind)

I let out a silent sigh before opening the trunk, i then carefully place the duffle back in a corner under the second net, Saeko gives me her bag which i also place in a corner under the net. After that i close the trunk, lock it and hide it under the net once again.

"And that's, that." I say as i turn around and stretch...

"Ohhh...wait a sec" I turn around and open the trunk again, the proceed to reload the shotgun and handgun.

"Shame we lost the second handgun magazine...oh well" I look at the handgun as i reload it.

"Got take the holster belt from my bag" I say to my self as i put the gun in my pocket.

I exit the car and turn to Saeko after locking it, tossing the net over it again.

"Ok...now we are over...ready?" I ask, Saeko nods at me before we both turned to leave the car...

(I didn't forget the keys did i ?)

I check my pocket to make sure the keys were in there as i walked.

And so, crowbar in hand we move back to the street and then instantly turn towards the road the led to the mall.

"How are we going to get inside?" Saeko asks as we start running.

"That...is a very good question...i could just shoot a gun to get their attention...but it won't be just their attention i will be getting" I answer.

We run past the first intersection and continued running down the road...which was still empty...yea..the road that Saeko went nuts when we first arrived...

The moment we reached the end of that road and walked into the parking field.

"Ok...well, time to summon the big bad boss" I take the handgun and point it at the corpses that were gathered all together to my left.

(Where is that cop girl...)

Several seconds later.

"Naier?" Saeko who was next to me with her sword drawn leans her head towards me.

"I'm trying to find the ugliest one" I replied as i keep looking down the gun's sights, i hear Saeko giggle next to me.

(Ughh, come on you little shit, where are you...)

"Umm, we have unwanted guests coming towards us...you might want to hurry a bit..." Saeko speaks up seconds later.

(God, work with me you stupid cop corpse.)

In the end, i just point at the closest corpse and pull the trigger.

"Alright let's go...and hope that the group inside got the message." I say as i motion Saeko with my head and start running towards the door.

Seconds later i see a pair of pink twin tails pop up from the edge of the mall's roof, and then they disappear as fast as they appeared.

The moment we reached the door we looked inside.

"At least leave a person to guard the door if you didn't write us off for dead..." I say as i look at the empty hallway.

"See...group leader decisions." Saeko says with a joking manner as she stands next to me.

"Well, i did wake half the block before thinking of this...so...fifty-fifty?" I answer as i turn to her.

"If you made only perfect decisions...then how would i make my self useful to you?" She says with a smile as she turns around and brandishes her sword, standing 'between' me and the oncoming corpses.

"By not dying for starters" I respond as i walk up next to her.

Saeko closes her eyes and continues smiling.

"Don't worry...I got no intention of dying...not when i just found my reason to keep living" She says as she turns to me, the smile still on her face.

(Well...that was straightforward)

All i could do...was stare back...i mean, sure i knew she probably felt like that by now...but hearing her say it was...you know...

And just then, the door behind us swung open.

"Well, i want you to keep on living too, so come on, let's go" I whisper her ear as i turn around and run to the door.

The moment we passed the mall's doors Takashi and Rei shut them close and started to re-barricade.

"Impeccable timing." I say as i put the handgun in my pocket, Takashi nodded after giving me a glance.

After that, the four of us moved towards a room on the first floor, where the rest of the group was at...the room looked like that same one that the group used to talk about the clinic in the manga...also where Asami saw the cop corpse...and...

"Saeko, Penguin!" That was Shizuka.

"Saeko, Mister Overlord!" That was Alice.

"Saeko, Idiot!" That was Saya.

"Bark, bark!"...I don't even wanna know what Zeke called me.

"Saeko, Naier!" At least Kohta got my name right. Asami who was next to him just smiled with her mouth wide open.

"Uhh how many names do i have again?" I ask my self in a silent voice as the group gathered around.

"See, i told you they would be fine!" Kohta says the moment he got near.

"Y..yea." Takashi responds as he glances at Saeko.

"Still you two need to stop being so reckless" Shizuka speaks up next as she tries to make a serious face.

Saeko nodded..i..wanted to shrug...but...uhh...i'd probably be dead then and there if i tried to brush this off, so just i nodded as well.

"Yea...Naier might have ended in a tight spot because of circumstance...but Saeko, you ended up putting your self in danger by decision, what if you didn't manage to jump over that corridor" Takashi add's up right after.

Before either of us could speak Saya walks up to me and point her finger to my face.

"The point is avoiding being put in a tight spot to begin with, something you don't seem to get. First in the estate, now this...do i need to tie you to a chair to keep you under control?" Saya hisses at me.

"Yea! You need to stop being bad! You made Saya really sad! She didn't want to eat! And she stayed up on the roof looking for you the moment she heard that you didn't return! She was really worried!" Alice starts shouting as she points her finger at me and...oh boy did she just lay it out flat...Saya's face must have changed to every single shade of red in existence.

"M-munchkin! What are you saying?! I, i was not worried about him! I.. i was worried that we might end up losing two people from our group because he is an idiot!" She shouts back at Alice as she grabs her by her cheeks and pulls them.

"Buut Shayaaa...Ooowweee!" Was the only thing Alice managed to say

"It's, big sister for you! And you! stop being an idiot and stop staring at me like an idiot!" She darts her head to me right after.

"Saya...you'll never get what you truly desire if you act like this." I turn my head to see that it was Saeko who said that.

(Huh...wait...what...did she just?)

"Wh..Wha...What are you talking about...I..." Saya, probably being as surprised as i was, froze...her hands still pulling on Alice's cheeks.

"I want to clean my self up, i got blood on me, so if you excuse me" Saeko, still with a smile, cuts Saya off as she turns around and walks away.

Now everybody was looking as weirded out as i was...except for Alice, who was smiling...i think...maybe she was sending signals for help?...i can't really tell...

"I'm...uhh...going to the roof..." I say as i turn around and walk away...i had that feeling that if i stayed there longer...i would end up getting a chair to the face, Saya style.

Plus...you know...i had a whole mall getting overrun thing to deal with...


	28. A castle made of sand

"Uhh...come on...think, think" I lightly tap my mask as i stared at the ground below, looking at the corpses that roamed about.

(Asami will see the cop corpse soon...nothing i can do about that...what matters now, is making sure she survives this day.)

I pull the handgun from my pocket and glance at it.

(The reason Shimada and Asami got killed boils down to that snotty brat...that fun fact...survives.)

I then aim the gun at the corpses.

(If i get rid of him...then both he and Asami won't die...while i don't really care what happens to that guy...I can't let Asami die...for Kohta's sake...still...am i going to resort on killing somebody again?...)

I lower the gun and look at the buildings in the distance, then shake my head and put the gun back in my pocket.

(Yea, for good or bad, i don't feel like mulling over that fact...i need to think of other methods to keep Asami alive...if all else fails...then can just take Kohta's gun and shoot the brat before Asami charges to her death...though that would be bad...very bad...for me.)

I look at the street that leads to the Humvee, which by the way was a little...blocked off now. Yea that shot i fired to get my group's attention? Also caused the grouped up corpses to move between the field and the road...along with any surrounding corpses...well, that's one way to clean part of the parking field...wish they didn't block off the road i needed to take though.

(The best way to solve this..is to bring the Humvee here, before the others manage to get into the field, that means sneaking out the back door alone...and well...for one, Saeko probably won't just accept leaving if she doesn't know where i am...i could take her with me...and well i don't see why we can't use a small team to get the car while the rest wait here...hmm yea...that will be the first plan..make the others wait on the second floor while a group of two or three get the car. That should keep them out of the parking lot.)

The sound of a door closing behind me caused me to turn around. It was the old couple, i lift my hand and wave at them, they do the same as the walk towards me.

"You should be careful not to fall with the way you are sitting" The granny speaks up.

"Thanks for the concern, i'll be fine" I say as i turn to look back towards the parking field again.

"Why are you up here all by your self? Everything alright?" The old man asks.

"Yea, just thinking..." I answer back.

A short silence passed between us until the old lady spoke.

"I heard that it was you that got traped in the clinic because of me...i..am really sorry i put you in needless danger" She bows as she speaks.

"Don't be...because of the clinic, i managed to find something that was...very important to me...i actually should be thanking you instead" I say as i look at the granny, who lifted her head and smiled at me. After that, we didn't speak...

(A plan would also be to find the brat before the rest leave...and silence it...if i go with that plan...then it's something i need to do...right now. If the old couple is here then that means that shit is about to hit the fan...

Another plan would be to actively antagonize Takashi...the reason Kohta shot Asami comes down to him. He went 'leader' mode and ordered him to not go after her...wonder if he would be willing to do the same if it was Saeko or Rei instead of Asami that run off...in either case...this time we are better prepared...and...i am here too, so if it comes down to it, i can just ignore Takashi and help Asami...big chance that Kohta and Saeko will follow me if i try to help the cop, though if Takashi takes this the wrong way then i'm definitely going to end up on his bad side...and he already seemed to be butthurt because of what Saeko did in the clinic.

As for how that can unfold...hmm...Asami was next to two cars...if she instead shoots a window and hides in one, it should buy us enough time to get the Humvee and return, or draw the corpses away with gunfire...though that would get us surrounded...and depending on where the big group is at, that could be a big fucking problem.

And...well there is the simplest plan of all...stop her before she manages to get away...simple...but she might start acting out because we stoped her from doing her 'duty'...and as i'm the one that i will have to stop her, because the rest failed miserably in the manga to do so, she will probably stab me as a 'bad guy' because i 'stoped' her from saving that kid...plus i can't know if she won't run away the moment i let her go...and i can't just drag her around...)

I move my head and hear my neck bones crack.

(My brain...Why can't i just summon a flying fucking tank or something?)

Just then i heard the door slam again, turning around i see Asami running straight towards the roof's edge.

(Well...time...is...up.)

I get up and go next to the old couple.

"Look's like your cop is having some problems" I say as i motion my head towards her.

The old couple turns towards Asami. Soon, she also notices us.

"What's wrong? it's dangerous over there!" She shouts at the old couple as she gets up.

While they kept talking i walked up to her, and by the time i reached her she had finished talking to the old couple and was now looking at me...or was trying to...as she kept darting her eyes around.

"Where did you mess up?" I ask i get near her.

"Huh, what are you talking about? Asami is just fine" She replies with a meek smile.

"I'm wearing a mask...and you're still trying to avoid looking me in the eye...where did you mess up?" I ask again.

Asami stayed quiet for some time before lowering her head.

"I...i didn't...i...did something horrible" she says in a low tone.

"And the correct decision was coming to the roof?" I ask again.

"But Kohta hates me now...i...i said something very mean to him." Her voice started to break as she spoke.

"And now he hates you" Asami nods as i speak.

"And you hate him" I say right after.

"No! I don't hate him! I..." She lifts her head to look at me.

"Did he say anything to you that proves that he hates you?" I cut her off. She stayed quiet.

"But..i"

"Yes or no officer, did he say anything that proves that he hates you" I ask again.

"No..." she answers as she lowers her head again.

"But you did, so if you think that he hates you, he probably thinks you despise him" I say as i fold my arms.

"So...should you be running away from him right now?" I ask as i tilt my head.

"Asami!" Just then, Kohta bursts through the door and looks at the two of us.

"Well, look's like somebody is giving you a second chance...don't waste it" I say as i turn around and start walking away.

"Oh and one last thing officer, remember, your actions won't affect just you from now on" I say as i glance at her and walk up to Kohta...who...was staring at me.

"I see you're dressed up for war...where did you hide our stuff?" I ask as i look at the bulletproof vest that Kohta was wearing.

"Oh..uhh in the bra shop on the second floor, from here once you get to the second floor you need to keep going right...in the section with the largest bras...and...it was Takashi's idea...not mine" He responds.

"Alright, well i'm going before this place gets flooded with sugar" I say as i pat Kohta on the shoulder. He just, blinked at me as i walked past him.

(Kind hypocritical of me if you think of what happened in the house with Saeko...but...ehh...whatever)

And so after that, i run to the second floor and headed to the store Kohta mentioned, honestly, even if somebody saw the guns now...who cares, they will soon be running like chickens anyway.

The moment i reached the store i went inside and straight to the giant bra section, then searched there until i found my bag and bokken.

"Missed me, i know i did" I say to my self as i open the bag and dig through the medical bottles before grabbing the holster belt, i also picked the shotgun shells i had left inside and shoved them in my lower pockets in my pants. I then wore the belt and put the handgun in its normal place.

(Finally, having the gun in my pocket was uncomfortable as fuck.)

The moment i strapped the bag on me i walked outside.

(Ok...now i should find Sae..)

"Oh god! They are inside!" A shout. I look straight ahead, over the railing to see the chubby man from the other group in the distance as he looked downstairs.

The group that was there then quickly started to barricade the stairs as the corpses began to spread like wildfire on the lower floor. I then looked under me...and well...under me...was shit-storm...

(Of fucking course they would get inside from a door that is right below me...what a fucking joke...and so much for planning.)

As i groan under my breath i see my group appear on the other side. The chubby guy then crashed into Shizuka's chest and got followed by Saeko shaking the life out of him. Shortly after that, Takashi started looking around with the binoculars...meanwhile i walked by the railing and watched at the corpses that had walked up the stairs that had not been barricaded yet.

(Well, there goes the path to my group.)

As i kept walking, i saw a couple of corpses that had gotten on the path that was ahead of me, though they were still pretty far. I pass the bokken back into its 'sheath' and keep looking on the lower floor.

"Naier!?" I lift my head to see that the group was now looking at me...well not just mine, both groups...i could also see some of them looking away... i mean...yea...it looked pretty bad. I was by my self, corpses had blocked off my way to them and nothing was barricaded on my side.

I lift my hand as i point my index finger on the ceiling and keep looking at the lower floor as i walked by the railing.

"Saeko?! What are you going! Don't go up there!" I hear a male voice shout, I dart my head to see Saeko standing over the makeshift barricade.

(Oh Shit, now or never, before she does something stupid...that is 'my' specialty after all.)

All the time i spent looking at the first floor was because i spotted a path, a path that led to a nearby closed emergency exit, i just had to...get to the lower floor...after finding a spot that was not a sea of corpses under me. And... i think just found it...

I vault over without out letting go, ending up on the other side of the railing, then crouch down to the lowest point i could get while still holding on with one hand...and jump.

(Man...this must be my most stupid idea so far...)

Also...i think i heard somebody scream?...or you know...the wind.

I crash into a corpse, that thankfully was one in the 'frontline', in other words, the front was clear. The moment it hit the ground i roll forward and as my boots touched the ground i stand up and break into a sprint..where to?...straight and to the right, that was where the closed emergency door was at...between me and the door...uhhh...yea.

I start running straight and swerve to the left, avoiding a pair of hands that reached out for me, then keep going straight before grabbing an arm that was to my right and using the momentum, i spin around, dragging the corpse along before tossing it on a couple of corpses that were straight ahead...well ok, not exactly tossing, it was more like it lunged forward and crashed into them, then use the opening to keep going straight...

So, right now the biggest problem? i had to deal with a thick line of corpses ahead of me that kept climbing the stairs, it was like these things were hellbent on getting to the upper floor, As they flocked around the stairs that led upstairs, one such sight blocked me off from the emergency exit, as behind that lineup the only thing i saw while i was on the second floor was a couple of lone corpses, all far away from the door i was aiming for...that was what was going on straight ahead..to my left...a wall...to my right...yea..all i could see was corpses...and they were slowly walking towards the stairs as well, in other words...

(I really didn't think this though did i?)

I was surrounded...Hell knows why i found my self chuckling as i run straight to the corpse 'lineup'...

(Scratch that...this is my most stupid idea...yet.)

I keep running straight...to a pair of benches. I let go of the shotgun and then using them as steps, i climb up...and jump...

"WHOSE STUPID IDEA WAS THIS AGAIN?!" i shout as i look at the corpses bellow me, I grab the shotgun with one hand as i try to calculate the place i would land...and...the thing is.

(Too far)

No matter how i saw it, i was falling too fast, i was past the 'middle' of the line...but the way it was going, i would still end up landing inside the corpses...

And the moment i crashed into the corpses bellow me, the world around me went dark...or more like...i was completely surrounded...I felt time stop to a crawl as every single thing turned around to look at me...and...i could not hear shouting anymore...

With the shotgun still in my hand, i point it straight ahead...and pull the trigger, vaulting forward the moment i felt the gun's recoil.

I found my self rolling on a corpse that got blasted back...and thankfully out of the hole i just dug my self into, using the momentum of my roll i lift my self up and turn to face the corpse 'line' that had now turned to face me because of the shotgun blast...and...uhh.

"AND FUCK YOU TOO!" i jerk my free arm up and turn around, running straight towards the emergency exit as i pump a new round in the gun.

The moment i reach the door i unlock it and kick it, the door impacts something behind it and then slowly opens, a corpse was on the floor behind it.

I turn towards the group that was on the upper floor behind me and to my left.

"I'll wait outside!" I shout as i turn and exit the mall, jumping over the corpse that was on the floor.

(They don't need to know that we have a car...)

Once i was outside i glance around the parking field before turning towards the large corpse group.

(The road i need to take is to my left...the corpse group is there too...uhh...i'll have to bait them away...a gunshot should do the trick.)

Yet before i could move towards my targeted destination...

"Help me, please, please help me! Don't leave me here!" I turn in the opposite direction of the corpse group to see the brat on a van, looking at me.

(Huh...well look at that, i could leave his sorry ass there...but him being there puts Asami in danger...i am not taking him to the car with me though.)

I sigh and run towards the wailing teenager, the moment i got near the car i point at the corpses that were clawing on its front side.

"Help me! help me! i'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Stop screaming like a bitch, you're getting more of them around the car." I say as i pull the trigger.

The corpses on the front part of the car crashed against it and fell down.

"Now, get down" I say as i pump a new round.

"What, no! there are still things around!" He shouts.

(Oh for fuck's sake)

I run-up to the car's front and climb up until i could reach the teenager, then grab him by the collar and yank him towards me as i jump back.

"What...are you doiiiiii!" He ends up with a spectacular fall as he falls face-first to the ground.

"I saved you, you're welcome, now you're on your own." I say as i turn around and start walking away.

"Ahhh! you can't leave me here i am unarmed, please help me! I'm sorry!" The kid quickly gets up and starts walking towards me.

"You are NOT coming with me, now beat it before i do something that you will regret." I say as i glance at him before turning to look at the corpse group ahead...

(Lets see...if i shoot at the left..i can...huh...wait a sec.)

The corpses were moving towards me...

(Uhhh...Oh of course...i just used the shotgun...ughhh.)

"I am really sorry! I didn't know what i was thinking, please, i don't have a weapon, i will die, please help me!" the kid almost runs into me as i turn around and point the shotgun to his face.

"One more step and i'm blowing your face to bits, third time you make me turn around i WILL shoot you" I narrow my eyes as i stare at him...before turning around again.

(Ok...if they are coming to me...i can just walk past them from the sides...hmm...yea that could...)

"I said i was sorry! I don't know what to do! Help me! You have to help me!"

I felt my eye twitch as i heard the shouting behind me...I pull the handgun turn around and aim at his head...

"I'm not letting you anywhere near my group, you brought this to your self..."

A gunshot echoes...and the teenager jerks his head backward as he falls on his back...and stays there.

I take a deep breath put the gun back into its holster and turn towards the corpses...

(Fucking hell...three times, why didn't he just fucking leave)

Once i got near the large group i started running as i swerved slightly to the right ending up with the corpses to my left, a couple of meters away from me, and soon...i saw an opening between the corpses and the road i needed to take.

I run straight to the end of the parking field, vault over the railing and keep going straight towards the road...that...uhh...ok this street will always be empty...

I run past the first intersection and keep going straight down the next road until i reached the tree cluster. I then go straight towards the Humvee. The moment i reached it i take the net off, fold it, go to the driver's seat and unlock the car, then toss the net on the back seats as i get inside.

I put the keys in the ignition and start the engine, then hit the reverse and exit the tree clusters before switching the gear and stepping on the pedal again, driving straight towards the mall. The moment the parking field came into view i could see my group to my right, along with Shimada...

I steer slightly to the left and keep driving straight...the moment i entered the parking field i press on the brakes and make a sharp turn to the right, in order to avoid the large corpse group. Then i go straight to my group before stopping the car next to them, i climb through the hatch and turn to look at them.

"Come on!" I shout.

The rest of the group quickly entered the car and the moment everybody was in i get back inside, ending up on the passenger's seat...

As we sped off...i glanced at the only real corpse in the field as the group kept chatting...or uhh...shouting excitedly...i mean they did just escape with their lives after all...

(Ughh...in the end, i shot the brat...why couldn't he just walk away...)

"..aier?"

(This is the third person i killed...the third normal person...huh...i remember Saeko said something in the manga right before they left the mall...what was it again... an honorable man follows a code of chivalry?...heh, wonder what she would think of me if she found out about this...)

"Hey, Naier." I felt something shaking me, i turn around to see Kohta with his hand on my arm. He was sitting behind me, like, literally behind me, as he was sitting on the car's floor again, Rei and Takashi were on the seat next to him and Asami was pretty much sitting on Kohta.

"Uhh, yea i'm fine. No bites" I say as i make a thumbs-up and i turn to look at the street ahead.

"Maybe Saya is right...we do need to tie you up to a chair...you scared us to death." Saeko says right after, i turn around again to find her staring at me, she was on the other side of the car.

"I had it under all under control." I say as i look at her.

"Like when you ended up jumping inside a horde of corpses?" Saya, who was next to Saeko asks right after, with her arms folded under her chest.

"Was...part of the plan." I say after i dart my eyes around, Saya just kept staring at me with a frown.

"Look, it's..."

"Was shooting that normal kid in the head also part of your plan?" Shimada who was in the middle of the back seats cuts me off and...uhhh...the chatter stopped.

I didn't reply, i just...stared at him...

"I saw you, the others were not out of the building yet...but i saw you." He said shortly after.

The group was now looking at me...

"If you mean the one that let the corpses inside the mall?...warned him, he didn't listen. I got no sympathy for the ones that put my group in danger." I answer plainly...and...the group just kept staring...

"You shot...a kid!" Shimada shouts as he glares at me.

"A kid whos actions killed a number of survivors inside the mall" I answer back.

"He didn't know what he was doing! The kid might have been an idiot and caused the mall to get overrun but he didn't actively try to kill anybody!" he shouts back.

(I am pretty sure he stabbed somebody in the manga. )

And...You know...maybe i was a bit out of it...i mean...i didn't realize that Shimada had one arm behind his back...until he actually pointed my Scar-H to my face...

"Care to ask the relatives of the dead mall residents if they think the same?" I ask as i stare the gun's barrel.

The rest of the group froze...and Shizuka, who was driving, glanced at me before turning to look back at the street...and then turned her head to me a second time with a short yelp, pressing on the brakes until the car stopped moving.

"Wha...what's going on here?!" She yelled as her eyes went wide.

(She seriously did not hear a thing?)

"That man is dangerous, he shot a kid in cold blood" Shimada says shortly after.

"What...there is no way..."

"He already admitted it" Shimada cuts her off.

"Shimada...lower that gun" Saeko kept glancing between me and Shimada as she spoke.

"You don't understand, he is dangerous, how do you know that he won't turn against you the moment the situation does not suit him, he is willing to shoot a kid, who knows what more he is capable of " He responds.

"You are blinded by rage, we've known Naier far longer than you, he wouldn't go mindlessly killing people, lower...that gun" She responds again as she tries to lean closer.

"What...are you going to do to him? Don't hurt him, he is not a bad person" Shizuka starts talking after Saeko as she looks between the two of us.

"Not bad?! No sane person would be fine with killing a kid! if you really believe that he is good then he has you all fooled!" Shimada shouts.

It's rather funny you know...the guy i threatened that i wouldn't forgive if i had to resort to violence in order to stop him from raping Shizuka...was selling me morality.

"Get out of the car" He moves the guns slightly to the side as he speaks.

"Unlike you, i'm not a killer" He adds right after.

Yet before i could move...

"Lower the gun...right now...i don't know who you think you are, but you won't be the one who gets to decide what happens here" Saya spoke up with a low hissing tone as she pressed the lugger's muzzle against Shimada's sides.

"The hell is wrong with you people, i am trying to help you! He is.."

"Dangerous?! Don't give me that shit! Everybody is dangerous now!" Saya shouts.

"And even so...if...if it wasn't for him...i...my parents..." I could see her eyes getting blurry as she spoke.

"Naier is the only reason that my home didn't get overrun! He nearly got himself killed protecting it! Protecting my parents! If he did all that just to fool me, then he has me fooled! Because i trust him more than i trust you!" Saya kept on shouting...and...uh...honestly...it was kinda overwhelming...i mean...she was actually using my name?

Shimada turns his head towards Saya as she kept pressing the gun against his sides...and using the chance i bolt forward grab the gun's barrel and aim it towards the hatch, flipping the safety before pulling it towards me...and the moment the gun's butt came in front of Shimada's face, i bring it straight to his face.

He lets go of the gun and grabs his nose...

"Now get out of the car" Saya glares at Shimada as she speaks.

"Now!" she shouts and pushes Shimada with the gun.

Kohta who was also aiming the Ar-10 at him opens the doors and exits the car along with Rei and Takashi...followed by Shimada, Kohta and the other two then enter the car and close the door.

"Go" Kohta looks at Shizuka the moment he enters the car.

Shizuka drove a couple of meters when...

"Stop the car..." Everybody in the group turns to look at me as i take Shimada's bat and exit the car. I then take off my bag and grab a bottle of painkillers.

"I don't intend to forgive you for what you tried to do to Shizuka...but i do believe that you wanted to help them now...even if that was by getting rid of me...for that, you can have these..." I say as i leave the bat and box of painkillers on the ground...Shimada stared at me like an idiot with his hand on his nose, i then walked a bit closer so the rest of the group would not hear me.

"You might think i am a danger...and you might be right, I'm not going to tell you to think otherwise...but" I glance back at the car.

"If you really wanted to help them, then don't hold this against them. They don't need any more enemies, their plates are already full enough as it is, and maybe ...someday...they might need your help...i don't want to be the reason that caused you to turn your back on them" I turn around after i finish speaking.

"Ohh and one last thing..." I say i turn around...

"If you want to find an evaluation center...look for a police station...they might have information on the locations..." I turn around again and walk to the car.

The moment i enter it Kohta speaks up.

"He pointed a gun at your face...and you are giving him painkillers and a bat?..." He asks as he frowns.

"If he really tried to help...even in by tossing me out, then it's better to show him that we are willing to work with him if he's not going to be a total dick...or... i guess i just might be stupid after all" I say as i shrug.

And with that, the car started moving again.

(Killing...should be a last-ditch effort, Shimada never got enough screen time for us to really understand if he is a good or bad person...the fact that we had to nearly choke his ass to stop him from raping Shizuka makes him loses a lot of points for sure...but...i can't read minds...maybe he really believed that i'm a danger and wanted to help...maybe he wanted me gone because i was the only one who threatened him after we immobilized him back at the mall...whatever the case...you should never close a door unless you are absolutely sure that it needs to be closed...like with Shido...and the kid...

In the manga other than the fact that he stabbed somebody, it clearly showed that he was unstable...what if he ended up in our group and then went crazy again?

...But you know...i'm glad i was actually able to do this with Shimada...might end up being a stupid decision in the long run...but at least it proves that i can still try to solve problems without shooting everything in close vicinity...)

"Are we going to leave Shimada back there?" Shizuka asks.

"He brought this to himself" Saya answers shortly after.

"Well...yea...but.." Shizuka trails off before she can finish her sentence.

"The guy almost raped you and you are worried about him?" Rei asks with a frown.

"Buut...he didn't seem like a bad person..." She replies.

"He tried to rape and you and he tried to shoot Naier" Kohta says right after.

"I know...and that was horrible...but he said he wanted to help...maybe he just..."

"You trust people way too easily Shizuka" Saya cuts her off...Shizuka just lowered her head slightly and kept her mouth closed.

(Holy crabs, how kindhearted can you get?)

The group then kept on chatting with one another for some time until...

"Naier..." Takashi, who had kept quiet so far speaks up, i turn around to see him staring at me...with Shimada gone he was now on the center.

"Are you hiding anything else from us?" He asks.

"Takashi!" Saya yells as she darts her head to him.

"If it was not for Shimada we would have never learned of this!" He shouts back.

(Aaand, of course, something must go to shit...out of the pan and into the fire...can i ever have a break?)

"I am the leader of this group, i have to make sure that nobody is a danger, i don't want to have somebody inside that is keeping secrets from us, even more so if that secret is going around behind our backs and killing living people!" He shouts as he turns to Saya, who just kept glaring at him.

"Takashi, stop, Naier is not our enemy, he helped us more times than i can count, me and Saya wouldn't have even made it out of the school if it was not for him." Kohta speaks up as he looks at Takashi, Asami next to him, hugging his arm as she darts her head around.

"And remember that when you went to save Alice, he shielded from that flashbang" Saeko adds right after.

"A flashbang that Kohta used after Naier's order" He answers back.

I stayed quiet as Takashi kept 'talking' with the group.

(You know what boss boy...you're starting to tick me off...i want to see what you will really do when the whole group is against your actions yet you are too stubborn to back down.)

"I killed Shido and Tsunoda" I answer casually, causing the whole group to turn to me.

"After they got expelled i followed them and found that they were going to return to the estate and try to open the barricades as payback for getting expelled, that...was also the reason why i was late after Saya's father returned to the estate" I add up right after...the rest of the group stayed quiet...and after a short silence.

"...what else?" Takashi asks as he keeps looking at me.

"Nothing else" I answer.

"And how do i know that you are telling the truth?" He narrows his eyes as he speaks.

Yet, before i could answer i felt the car abruptly stop.

"Enough! I can't take this anymore!" Shizuka shouts as she turns her head to us.

She keeps staring between me and Takashi, her eyes slightly red.

"We can't just!..."

"I don't care! Just Stop it!" She shouts...and Takashi...closes his mouth...She then turns to look at the street and grips the steering wheel.

"We need to find a place to stay before it gets dark..." She says with a cracked voice as she kept looking down the street.

I let out a silent sigh and put my hand in my pocket, taking out the keys to the house, then lift my hand between the two front seats.

"Saeko, would you please tell them how they can get to the house...don't feel like talking." I say as i keep looking at the street ahead.

"I will..." Somebody takes the keys as i hear the answer...and shortly after Saeko instructs Shizuka to turn the car around and head towards the mall, as we were going in the opposite direction from the clinic.

(On the other hand, some times i feel like it would be better if i just whacked everybody in the head and be done with it...)


	29. Unwanted luggage

(Hmm, i locked the gates didn't i?...Got to open them up and get the jeep with the corpses out of the way. Heh...i like how i keep saying 'I'...why don't i just let our glorious leader decide who does what...ughh)

I let out a silent sigh and slightly shake my head.

(Come on, hold it together, don't be spiteful, Takashi is just surprised and is trying to protect the group, albeit in a very retarded manner...you will sort this out...or you won't...what's the worst that can happen?...Get kicked out...if it comes to that? I will then play with what cards I've been given... but no matter the case, i must not aim to add fuel to the fire, and...i got this nagging feeling...that Takashi ain't saying all the reasons for his little outburst...)

"We're almost there" Saeko speaks up.

"The doors should be locked...and there is a jeep in the garage, with corpses inside." I say right after her.

"Right, so, don't get too close, i'll go with..."

"No...i'll go..." Takashi cuts off Saeko, causing the group to turn to him.

"You sure? I have been there before." She asks as she looks at him.

"Yes, i'll handle this" He says as he extends his arm towards Saeko, who then gave him the keys with a short nod.

Once the house was twenty or so meters to our left, Shizuka stopped the car. Takashi then exited the Humvee and carefully went straight towards the gate of the house. As this was happening, i noticed that Shizuka was glancing at me.

"Umm...i..didn't know you had such a nice house..." She says as she keeps glancing.

"It's not mine" I answer back.

"Huh...but you had the keys" She responds.

"Took em from a corpse" I answer again.

"Ohh.." She lowers her head and looks back at the steering wheel.

"Sorry..." She responds shortly after.

(...God damn it Shizuka, do i look like a guy who would own a house like that? Or are you actually trying to guilt-trip me here?)

I shake my head and turn to her.

"It's fine, i'm not mad, not at Takashi...much less at you..why the hell would i be angry at you to need an apology in the first place?" I ask as i tilt my head.

"Oh...well...it's...because...you know...because...ummm" She just trails off as she keeps thinking for a reason...that obviously did not exist.

"Relax, once everybody calms down, we'll sort this thing out" I say as i turn to look at the house.

Shizuka nods and turns to me with a slight smile.

"Oh, come on now, how can Takashi think that you're a danger the group...i mean...just look at this. All that crap going, and you're still trying to cheer up Shizuka" Khota speaks up shortly after.

"A...Asami agrees with Kohta..." She says right after with a nod.

"I guess it's true what they say...Idiots do have a thick skull...seeing how you seem to be totally unaffected from the fact that it's your head on the line here..." Saya folds her arms as she turns to look outside the window.

"So...his thick skull saved your home?!...That's amazing!" Alice who was sitting on Reis lap asks as she tilts her head and then lifts both arms in the air in an excited manner.

"S...silence munchkin! And i said it's Big Sister for you!" Saya almost leaps on Rei as she grabs Alice by her cheeks and starts pulling them...

"Gaah, Hey! Take it easy! You are going to crush me!" Rei shouts amidst the whole thing...and then...a strong bump on the door next to her. We turn to the noise see a corpse that had planted its face on the window...and the group goes silent.

"...Party crusher..." I say as i look at the corpse.

"Tell me about it...but...well...we did get a bit...loud" Kohta says as he looks at the corpse that was grinding its face against the window.

Less than a minute later, we see Takashi opening the front gate, he then motions us to go to him. And so Shizuka drives up to the house, and the moment we got near.

"Ohh...Asami thinks we should we use the firecrackers...that way, they won't gather outside of the house because of the car engine" She says as she takes a couple of firecrackers out of her pocket.

"In the end we didn't use them at the mall, because Naier came with the car right after we exited the building" She adds right after.

"Hmm yeah, that is some good thinking there Nakaoka, we can use the car's hatch to throw them" Saya answers as she points at the hatch.

"Alright, and...you can all call Asami by her first name" She replies as she moves towards the hatch and...uhh...you know...i always thought of Asami was...short...and it's just now that i actually realize that she is about the same hight as Saya...who...well is actually the shortest one in the group...with Saeko being the tallest. Me?...Well...about the same hight as Saeko i guess? Didn't really bother checking...

Seconds later i hear the sound of firecrackers going off as the car enters the yard. The garage door was open, the other car was still there and the back exit of the garage was also open. Takashi then walked up to the driver's door.

"I pulled the handbrake, you should be able to push it out of the garage with our car" He says as he points at the suv.

Shizuka nodded and slowly drove towards the silver suv, bumping it with our Humvee. As the car started to move in reverse i noticed that the Boat was still attached to it, and was starting to turn to the right.

"The boat will block us like this..." I say as i exit the car, run up to the back of the Suv and detach the trailer. I then keep walking towards the back exit of the garage, taking the trailer with me. The moment i got out i turned to the right and left the boat in the back yard.

"Guess you will have to wait huh" I say under my breath as i look at the wooden boat.

As i turn around i see the silver SUV pop out of the garage. It then kept rolling until it pushed up against the back gate, which slightly tilted towards the outside. I then walked back inside the garage to see the rest of the group getting out of the car...

"Well...i'll be on the second floor, second room to the left...tell me if you decide to chop my head off, throw me out of the window or something...don't forget to close the door and lock the gates, have fun" I say as i move towards the door that led to the living room and waved my hand at the group as it stood behind me.

(I know i said to my self to not be spiteful...but...UGHH...could not resist...)

I take off my bag and guns as i keep walking, leaving everything on the big table before climbing up the stairs...then head straight into the kid's room...after taking off my shoes...better late than never right?

I close the door behind me and turn to look at the room. The bed was in front of me, its 'head' touching the wall to my left, after it and straight ahead of me was a relatively big window, next to that window a desk with some textbooks and a lamp, after that desk on the other corner of the room, the expensive-looking PC...on another desk.

The wall opposite of the two desks consisted solely of wardrobe doors.

"Well...i'm home..." I say as i lift my hands and instantly let them drop.

I walk around the room for a bit before stopping by the window. I could see the boat in the backyard from here.

(I was aiming to somehow verify if we could get to the 'ova island' with that boat...i mean...sexual hallucinations aside...if we blast that cave?...Place with no corpses confirmed...well...ok it will still have some corpses...but if you can somehow root them out, then the place will be clear...and..well... worst-case scenario you can just cause controlled 'forest' fires...corpses light up like Christmas trees after all...and do die from fire...plus, it would be much easier to gather them all in one location, as it has no real walls to block them...except if they're so retarded that they can actually end up getting stuck on tree trunks...though burning them would mean that you will either need to have a gas mask...or be prepared to wake up married to a broom)

I let out a slight chuckle and shake my head.

(But...now that has to be postponed until somebody stops being a hard ass...)

I take a couple of steps back and sit on the corner of the bed...

(Jokes aside...if they kick me out...what do i do?...uhh...i can either take the boat and go to the island by my self...or find where is the elementary school that Takashi's mom works at and go there, it was supposed to be an evacuation zone...and In the manga, Shido ends up there...something that obviously won't happen now...)

My thoughts then got interrupted as i heard the door open behind me, turning around i see Saeko closing the door behind her.

"I fail to believe you all made a decision this fast" I say as i turn to look back at the window.

"We haven't even started talking yet" She replies as she walks over the bed and sits next to me.

"And you won't be part of it?" I ask.

"I will...i just wanted to see how you are doing...and..." She stops talking in the middle of her sentence and lowers her head.

"Ask why i never mentioned this to you?" I ask again as i turn to look at her.

"Yes...but mostly...to apologize that i didn't do anything to stop Shimada..." She responds.

"You didn't..didn't do anything, you couldn't, do anything. There is a big difference there" I say as i keep looking at her...she just...smiled slightly.

"So...why didn't you tell me?...You don't trust me?..." She asks as she turns to look at me.

I take a deep breath and take off my mask and balaclava.

(Better if she can see that i mean what i'm about to say)

"No, i trust you...but i didn't...and i still don't...want you to believe that the reason that i said that i want you with me...is because i've done worst than you, i would still have said the exact thing same to you, even if i hadn't killed any of them" I keep staring at her eyes as i spoke...she...didn't react..she just kept staring at me.

"And...well there was a...second reason" I say as i look away.

"Which...was?" She leans slightly towards me as she asks.

"I didn't...want to make the whole thing look like a tournament of who had it bigger...i was afraid i might lose..." I say i try to keep a straight face while turning to her...but...uhh...ok i ended up smirking in the end..

Saeko stared at me for a couple of seconds before bringing her hand up to her mouth, holding her self back from laughing.

She then placed her free hand on mine, while still keeping the other hand over her mouth...and 'bumped' her head on my shoulder.

"I will stay with you...even if they kick you out...i will stay with you...as long...as" She kept her head lowered as she spoke.

"I keep my promise...i know" I cut her off as i put my other hand on her head and ruffle her hair.

She stayed like that for a couple of minutes before getting up after taking a deep breath. She smiled at me and turned to leave without saying anything else, meanwhile, i wore my balaclava and mask back on. Yet, the moment the door started closing...

"Uhh...we're all eating...and...since nobody seemed to bother i..." I hear another female voice from behind the half-closed door.

"I am sure he will appreciate the gesture" I hear Saeko reply.

"I uhh...I'm doing this just so he won't end up starving...no other reason" The other voice answers.

And seconds later.

"I..i'm serious!" The same voice says with a higher tone.

Well...with so much chundereism...it was not much of a surprise when i saw Saya open the door...

With her face slightly red she walked over to the desk with the books and left a tray with a plate on it, then turned around.

"Thanks." I say as she headed towards the door.

"We're all eating, i didn't..."

"For stopping Shimada" I cut her off.

She stopped at the door, but...didn't turn to look at me.

"...I..can't let them kick you out..." She says in a very low tone.

"B...because you're an idiot...and you wouldn't survive a day without me" She then bolted out of the room...and right before the door closed, i saw her going into the upper floor bathroom, her face beet red. I chuckle and turn to look at the food.

(Wouldn't survive a day without you...heh...i guess that was a Saya way of saying...'I won't let them kick you out, because i'm worried about you')

I take off my 'face attire' again and sit by the desk that had the plate on.

(Shame she reverted back to calling me an idiot again...but...ehh...one step at a time...i mean...i still, remember how smooth it went the first time i 'met' her...'Hey idiot are you deaf'...all because i was in her way on the stairs...wonder if she even remembers that...)

I found my self chuckling as i took the chopsticks that were next to the plate.

After i finished my food i went to the upper bathroom to clean the plate...don't judge, going downstairs now would have been way too awkward...After that, i searched around the room...did you know that this kid had seven different handheld consoles? Yea...did you know that none of them worked now?...Yea.

I then searched the wardrobes...

The one that was next to the door had a buttload of Tuxedos, ties, a couple of shiny shoes and other formal shit, all 'grown-up' size.

The next one had other adult-sized clothing...most of it being Adidas style pants and shirts...things that you could go for a run with.

The last one had kid clothing...talk about wardrobe invasion...two out of the three wardrobes in the kid's room had adult clothes.

And after that?...After that i tried to remember a moment in my life that was more boring than the now...and i couldn't find..anything...

...

(ten and thirty...)

I groan as i rock my self on the office chair...

(Three...hours...they have been down there without telling me anything...for three...fucking...hours)

"I'm...booored!" i push the chair with my legs, making slide across the room.

"You're under arrest...for being a...Ninjaaa!" I spin on the chair, ending up with my feet on the wall opposite of the bed, which i then push lightly against and end up back to the bed...

"A PC made for gaming and i can't play because somebody pushed a button and launched H.A.N.E. missiles...i'm so going to sue if i survive this..." I found my self chuckling as i looked at the computer...and a couple of seconds later...

"Ughh...Fuck my life..." i groan as i lean on the chair and look at the ceiling.

"The group downstairs is freaking out over my actions...and i'm cracking jokes, maybe i am nuts after all..." I slowly spin the chair as i keep looking at the ceiling.

"Uhh...Why can't they just make a decision...waiting like this is as horrible...it's like going to the doctor. You spent five agonizing hours...and three of these five hours are actually you waiting for your execution...If you're going to kick me, then kick me...so i can kick you before i get kicked" I groan as i close my eyes.

"Oh, i'm also going to steal your samurai" I chuckle before taking a deep breath.

"Maybe i should just go sleep...it's already dark out...and if they decide to kick me while it's dark...then we will have another bone to pick. Hmm...i don't feel like stripping though...for...obvious reasons...and sleeping with my clothes is...not a good idea" I get up from the chair and go to the wardrobe with all the Adidas look-alikes.

"Well...you lot just got demoted to...P.j.'s!" I grab a pair of black pants and a full-sleeved shirt, then glance at the closed door.

"...Yea, as if..." I chuckle to my self and change clothes, leaving the ones i wore on the office chair. Then run straight to the bed...jump...and elbow drop...

In retrospect...a very bad idea...to bad i realized it after the bed decided to fight back and bounced me to the side...ending up with me face flat to the floor with a thud.

"Ughh...fuck..." I lift my head and shake it.

"Got owned by a bed..." I chuckle as i casually look under it, half expecting to find a bag with some hidden treasure in it...yea, nothing was under the bed. What i did see though...was the door swing open, and a pair of legs.

"Naier?! What happened! Are you alright?!" A female voice shouts the moment the door opens.

I pop my head over the bed to see Saya...uhh...with...no pants...well...she technically was wearing 'pants'...if you can call them that...they looked like the ones she wore in Rika's house...she was also hugging a pillow with one hand, the other hand on the door's handle...oh and her hair was down...we might have no lights...but the moon gave enough illumination to be able to see clearly.

"All's good...i...uhh...did i wake you up?...Sorry, didn't mean too" I say as i keep looking at her.

(Ohh, slip up, she called me Naier again)

"Uhh..no...you didn't wake me up, everybody just went to sleep a couple of minutes ago...i'm..here to tell you that...we haven't...decided...on..." She kept talking slower and slower, to the point that she stopped and shifted her gaze away from me.

"Hmm...i see..." I say as i keep staring at her...yet, she did not move...she just stayed by the door, holding it...while hugging the pillow...her face looking...well anywhere but my direction.

"You gonna sleep here?" I ask. Saya darts her head to me and goes beet red.

"W...well everybody had gone to sleep...there...there are four rooms...Kohta and Asami took a room...Rei and Takashi took another...Shizuka took the other with Alice and Saeko...and..." Her face kept getting more and more red as she spoke...her eyes darting around the room

"Well, i guess it's only fair that i don't hog the bed" I say.

"Yea, yea" She nods...multiple times.

"Want me to sleep on the chair?" I ask as i point at the office chair.

"Uhh...you won't be able to sleep there...if you can't stay awake tomorrow it will end up being my fault...you...can sleep on the bed...b...but don't let it go to your head!" She raises her voice slightly as she turns to stare at me.

"Of course" I say as i get up from the floor and dust my self off...not that the floor was dusty to begin with...but...you know, habits.

"Uhh...what are you wearing?" She asks as she raises an eyebrow.

"What are YOU wearing?" I answer back with a question and point at her...she lowers her pillow slightly...not that it helped a lot...as now...it was the 'upper parts' that were revealing.

"Quit...staring you pervert..." She narrows her eyes as she tries to hide her self behind the pillow...her face still as red as ever.

I just flop on the bed and crawl under the covers while facing the window...

A couple of seconds later Saya finally walks into the room and closes the door behind her, then, i felt the bed move.

"If you turn around...i'm going to punch you" She says as the bed slowly stops moving.

(Jeez, violent one that is...)

"Did you manage to search the electronic store?" I ask without turning around...

"Uhh...yea...i found a couple of working flashlights...and some decent walkie talkies that still worked...but i don't know if they can still reach the max advertised distance...i have everything in one of our bags" She replies.

"I see...thanks...and...good work Saya" I answer.

Several seconds later.

"Thanks..." She replies with a voice equal to a whisper.

I give one last glance at the watch i left on the nightstand...and after that...we went to sleep...

...

Feels damn good sleeping on a bed again...as it seemed i had made a habit of sleeping in places that are not really meant to sleep on...car seats...recliners...floors...ok, i do know that a person can sleep 'anywhere' if need be...but uhh...you get the point...

So, i guess it was a nice change of pace being comfortable for once...soft pillow, soft sensation on my back, soft bed, warm blanket...call me weak, but a good sleep can make quite the difference when push comes to shove...

I open my eyes to see my hand in from of me.

(I went out cold...i can't even feel my hand)

I lift my other hand, pulling it out of the covers and land it on my mask.

(Forgot to take off my mask again?...huh...figures)

I then intertwine my fingers and stretch them with a yawn, causing them to crack...then...i look at my hands...and then at the hand that was on my pillow.

(One...two...uhh...three?)

I blink and look at my hands again...still three...I turn my head as i follow the arm that the hand belonged to...and end up bumping my mask against Saya's nose...

She reacts with a quiet moan. Nuzzling against my neck as she lowered her head...

(Uhhh...ok...this is happening?...i'm pretty sure i'm not dreaming...Uhh...she moved in her sleep?)

As i slowly take off the blanket i also realize that she had passed her other arm under me as it laid on the bed in front of me.

(And she also managed to pass her arm under me while asleep?...I smell found play...Saya is either a sneakier Ninja than me, or she really moves a lot in her sleep)

I silently get off the bed as i hold her head, then slowly place it on a pillow before covering her back up, she didn't react, other than moaning once again and hugging her pillow. I then pick the wristwatch and look at it.

(five am...hmm it was ten and something before i went to sleep...i slept for six or seven hours...)

I turn to look at the window to see that it was still dark outside.

(Heh...i remember when six hours were nowhere near enough...while now i feel perfect)

I slowly walk towards the door as i give Saya one last glance.

(That sure was a nice way to wake up though...let's see if the rest of the day will go this well)

After a quick visit to the bathroom in order to wake my self up, i went down to the first floor...the first thing I noticed?...Saeko...she asleep on the recliners...yea the same recliners we slept on when we were returning to the mall. As i walked up to her i saw that she was also covered with a blanket and was hugging a pillow...so i guess she didn't do this on a whim...

(Uhhh...Saeko had shown to occasionally 'restrain' her self in the manga...like what she started calling Takashi by his last name after Rei started getting a little bit 'too' jealous...so...don't tell me she actually decided to sleep with Shizuka because i told her that i also like Saya...)

I kneel down next to her and pat her head, she reacts with a soft groan as she tries to hide her face in the pillow.

(Great...now i'm feeling guilty...uhhh...i have to figure out a way...so i don't end up hurting them both...)

As i turn around i notice a shadow by the window behind me, next to the small hallway that led to the front door...Takashi was outside...looking at the front gate.

(And making them split from the group ain't what they need...So you know what?...Let's start by finishing this little shitshow...lets see if the others talked any sense into our glorious leader...if they didn't...then i will...but first)

I get up and go to the kitchen, i glance around the room and see the textbook that i had given to Saya at the estate...next to it a bottle of water, a metal cup, and a couple of unopened soda cans.

I walk up to the textbook to see the title 'Creating ice' with calligraphic letters. Under it several lines that ended with a different number of asterisks.

Type one, A damn fridge with one asterisk next to it...

Type two, portable ice maker and two asterisks next to it...

Type Three, cold season nights with three asterisks next to it...

Type four, Vacuum pump and bell jar with four asterisks next to it...

Under that, a wall of text, each with a different number of asterisks in the front, that explained in detail the how-to on each mentioned 'type'...yea even on how to use a fridge...does Saya really think that we are THAT stupid...actually...i don't want to know...and finally, under all of that, with a different colored pen, 'Ice and salt make for better refrigeration'.

I flip through a couple of pages, looking at some of the other things written in the textbook...some pages even had drawings. From how to connect cables correctly to edible mushrooms...

(Holy shit, Saya can draw...and her handwriting is amazing...makes me want to rip the first couple of pages...as they were pages that i filled...)

I let out a silent chuckle and turn back to the ice making page...then take two closed soda bottles and turn towards the window.

(We should be glad that much of the population is now...well...dead, at least we still have running water because of that...the hydration system is dependant on electricity after all...i guess the only reason we still have water is because it's left in the 'pipes' or the main reservoir or something? And with a lot of people being mindless meatbags, it means that they ain't going to be using the water taps...or...i think it might be something like that...don't really know how that type of infrastructure works...)

Once i got to the window i stop and stare at Takashi...he didn't seem to have realized i was there yet. I slowly open the window and crawl out, sneaking up behind him.

(I really want to go all boogeyman now...but..uhh...if he starts screaming like a little girl...yea let's not do thaaa...?)

I stop and stare at his shoulder...his shirt...was black...but...i'm sure that...this white 'thing' i was seeing stuck there...was not part of 'his' attire.

(...Is that what i think it is?)

I walk up next to him, to the point that he realized that i was next to him, he looked...rather surprised.

"life is hard eh? It's warm, probably tastes like shit and will actually make you even thirster, have one" I say as i pass one of the cans to Takashi, which he takes it without much of a fuss...

"Must still taste better than warm beer, people always say it tastes like crap when warm" He says as he opens the can and takes a sip.

(He seems rather calm now...wonder if sleeping cooled him off...or if the soundproofing in these rooms is 'that' good...still...this could be a perfect chance)

" I don't get it...You go and help the guy that just pointed a gun at your face...because you believed that he wanted to help us...us, as in the group...Then...you keep trying to act like a lone wolf, despite the fact that you are now part of a team...it's not just killing Shido and the kid...the power plant too, you didn't even warn us...even if we wouldn't be able to do anything like you said, we would still be willing to at least try..." He starts talking first, looking at the corpses over the front gate...

"And...i can't really know if you have done anything else behind our backs either...the group made it pretty obvious to me that they trust you...but...try to see this from my side...say that you end up turning on us...if a member of the group dies because of that...it will be my fault because i let you say" He turns to me as he speaks.

I let out a sight...and then take a deep breath.

"Takashi if i was to turn on the group, i would turn even if i didn't go off by my self...or shoot the ones that deserve to be shot" I say as i look at the front gate.

"Of course. But we would still have a better chance of realizing it if you didn't disappear every five minutes" He says as he also turns to look at the gate...i let out a chuckle.

"So you admit that the reason you don't want me going by my self is because you want to keeps tabs on me?" I ask.

"It's because of your actions that i 'need' to keep tabs on you...out of the group you, seem to be the most...unpredictable..." He answers without turning to look at me.

(Ohh, you wish, You better hope i will do a good job on keeping Saeko's 'needs' in check, or you will be in for a rude awakening buddy)

"Well...no matter how this ends...some things won't...can't change, if there's somebody that i deem a threat, i will act accordingly...whether you like it or not...even the filthiest of actions are going to go unpunished now...and people will take advantage of that...call it fight fire with fire if you will" I turn to glance at the house behind me as i speak.

"Just...answer me one thing Takashi...that outburst...was it...solely because of what you said to me just now?" I start speaking again before Takashi can say anything.

"Huh, what do you mean?..what..." He turns to me as he starts speaking.

"How do you feel about Saeko and Saya..." Takashi blinks several times before he realized where this was going...and he looked away.

"You asked me that...and...after we returned from the clinic, you kind of forgot that everybody else existed, you became so obsessed with Saeko that it was actually kind of sad to watch " I say as i fold my arms.

"I...did?" Takashi turns to me and raises both eyebrows, seemingly surprised.

"You did..." I answer as i tilt my head slightly.

(Well...actually...you didn't...all you did, was warn her that what she did was dangerous, while ignoring the fact that i was there as well...but...i also gamble what i know from the anime in this...)

Takashi stays quiet for some time...and then chuckles.

"Am i...that obvious?" He asks with a slight smile as he looks away.

"Uhh...i mean...come on...she is kind...strong...pretty...and uhh...i kind of saw her in nothing but an apron and a thong...yet she acted like it was all...fine...what was i supposed to think..." He says as he looks at the bottle.

"And...uhh...do me a favor...don't tell Rei i said this...she will skewer me alive" He adds right after as he keeps looking at the can...

"You can just kick me if you want to make sure" I say as i fold my arms...Takashi shakes his head.

"Really?...Saya has been ignoring my existence ever since coming here...i can't even remember when was the last time she was this pissed at me...and Saeko...after everybody left...she pretty much vowed to me that she will stay by your side...no matter what i decide...Kohta is flatly against it too...and even Shizuka was mad if you can believe that...kicking you out would destroy the group...it's just..." He says as he turns to look at the gate.

"You bit off more than you can chew and now you can't just back down after raising a ruckus because it will make you look weak as a leader?" I say as i look at the gate as well.

"Uhh..something like that...i'm really not cut out for this leader crap...you sure you don't want to take the spot? Everybody in the group already likes you as you can see..." He says as he tilts his head from left to right before turning to me.

"Dude, weren't you just trying to kick me out? You just jumped from one side of the scale to the other...and no...being a good leader isn't about being liked...sure, it's important...but being able to make decisions without stuttering is what really counts...and so far you seem to be able that...even if some of them are...ehh...meh" I say as i turn to him...he didn't respond.

And after a short silence.

"Ok...tell you what, tell them we made an agreement...i won't 'lone wolf' anymore...but...don't expect me to change the way i...deal with people that i deemed a threat, even if you disagree with me, that won't change...and...you have to promise me something as well" I stare at him as i speak.

"Don't worry, She already made it clear with who she wants to be with, i don't intend to try anything stupid...and...you're right...some people are beyond saving...i won't disagree with that" He cuts me off.

"Heh...good to see we agree on that...but...that is not what i want you to promise me..."Takashi raises an eyebrow as i speak.

"To first answer the question you asked me at the humvee about Saya and Saeko, if you have not realized yet, i do like them...more than i like my self." I say as i keep looking at Takashi.

"So you have to promise me, if something happens to me, you will take care of them" He sighs and makes a weird expression...something between worried and annoyed?

"Naier, come on, really? what are you..."

"You. Will. Stop them. From doing anything crazy...and i don't mean by taking advantage of the situation either...especially if you are not even sure if i'm alive or dead, i don't think i need to explain why now...do i?" I cut him off and stare at him

After a couple of seconds.

"Only if you'll also watch after Rei if something happened to me...same deal with yours...and no more secrets" He says after a long sigh and stares back at me.

I extend my arm to him.

"Truce?" I ask.

"I'd prefer to have friends in my group...and i'm sorry" He takes my hand for a western-style handshake...and as the sun begins to rise...

"I can live with that...and...uhh...are you gonna walk around with that on your shoulder?...Quite bold of you if i do say so. Don't know if the girls will approve though." I say with a slight smirk as i point at his right shoulder...

Takashi tilts his head questionably as he takes a sip of the soda and grabs the item with his left hand, bringing it to the front...and his eyes go wide...something in my brain then screamed at me to get out of the way, So i instantly leaned away while moving out of the way.

"PPPFTT" And the Soda that Takashi just sipped came out the same way it came in...

"...I think Rei will be looking for these...and you kinda just washed them over with soda...i mean...these belong to Rei...right? ." I say as i look at him.

"Uhh...about the no secret thing...can we keep this as an exception?" He says as he nods with an awkward expression.

"Well...Look at the bright side, at least we didn't end the chat in a depressing manner. " I say as with a chuckle...not really answering his question.

"...Can i kick you out?" He 'asks' me as he turns his head to me.

"Nope, too late for that, we're friends now...BUT...that doesn't mean that you can go and get all freaky with Rei on my bed though..." Takashi's glances between me and the...uhh...soaked pantys...before he starts going red. I chuckle and turn around, head towards the window, open it and jump back inside.

Saeko was still sleeping, so i silently left the closed Soda can on the table. After a quick scan of the room, i found the keys for the Humvee on the same table, which i took and went straight to the garage. Once there i went to the Humvee, unlocked the back door and took a shirt, a pair of pants and a new jacket...and you know..shocks underwear...

(Well...that went smashingly, good job me if i do say so to my self...still...it's weird...Saya charged in my room the moment i hit the floor...yet nobody heard Takashi and Rei getting...personal?...hmm...don't tell me she was actually peeking through the door or something...if she did...there goes my cool persona...)

I throw the clothes over my shoulder and head straight to the second floor after locking the car...my face slightly heating up by the idea that somebody was looking at me while i was being...uhhh...stupid...

The moment i got there i went straight to the bathroom...or...i was aiming to...Until i heard a voice coming over from my room...and...i noticed that the door was slightly open.

(Hmm?)

I glance around the hallway and walk up to the door.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, ughhh" I could hear Saya speaking from inside the room.

"He wasn't supposed to wake up before me...ahhh...why didn't i move back before falling asleep?...God, i'm so stupid"

I glance around again.

(Uhh...interesting...but...am i really going to eavesdrop on Saya...and to think that i just thought that she might have been eavesdropping on me...uhh come on man...show some class)

As i'm about to move away.

"Ok...ok...i...i moved in my sleep...yes...i moved in my sleep...and then i woke up and he wouldn't let me go...so i...let my self sleep like that..."

And i end up moving back to the door...don't blame me, she was acting way too cute to just ignore...

"Ughh no, no, no, that sounds horrible, like i gave up and decided it was fine to sleep like that...even though it was...comfortable...Ahhh! Quit daydreaming you stupid idiot...uhh...i will...just say that i moved in my sleep...yes...just that..plain and simple. Ughh...why couldn't he just stay sleep for a bit longer?" After that, i start hear ruffling.

(Yea...ok...let's go before we get caught)

I silently head to the bathroom...with a smirk. After taking a quick bath...with relatively cold water...and changing to my new clothes, i exit the bathroom and turn to my door, which was still slightly open.

After a small knock, i open the door. Finding Saya on the bed, sitting and wrapped up in the blankets.

"Morning" I say as i casually walk into the room and head towards the chair with my old clothes.

"M...morning..." She says as she stares at me...her face going slightly red.

I take everything out of my pockets and put them in the pockets of my new pants.

(Left the guns down..still took the ammo with me...seems legit)

"J...just so you know, the reason i ended up on your side of the bed was just because i moved in my sleep..." She says as she tries to look serious.

(Awww...putting your rehearsal to use i see...i really want to tease her...but that can backfire horribly if she finds out that i listen to her while hiding behind the door.)

"Yea, figured as much, hope i didn't wake you up" I say as i close my pockets and turn to her.

"N..no...i just woke up" She replies as she turns her head to look out of the window, hiding the lower part of her face under the blankets.

"Well, i will get out of your way then" I say as i move towards the door.

"Huh, where are you going? Won't Takashi get mad if you start wondering around?..." She asks as she turns to me.

"Nahh...it'll be fine..." I say as i open the door.

"Don't worry...everything is going to be fine" I add up as i turn to her...she didn't reply.

(Huh that's weird...figured she would go all 'i'm not worried now get out so i can change)

I close the door behind me and move to the first floor. Once there, i look at the recliner to see that Saeko was not there, Takashi was sitting by the big table with a glass of water in his hand.

"Told you, that crap will make you thirsty" I say i move towards the table.

"And yet, you were the one who gave it to me" He replies.

"I'm an evil overlord after all...feeling corrupted yet?" I ask as i take a seat, Takashi chuckles and shakes his head.

"Uhh...where is Saeko?" I ask as i point at the recliner.

"The bathroom inside the study" Takashi replies.

"So you all have a plan on how to act from here?" I ask and Takashi nods.

"The police station that is responsible for this region is the one that Rei's dad works at, we will go there...we have decided that some time ago in the mall...we had a 'vote' on it but we could not find you anywhere to let you know" He says as he looks at the glass.

"To find her dad?" I ask, he nods...I glance straight ahead and little to my left, towards where the boat should be at.

"Before we leave this place, there is something we need to take in account" I lean slightly on the table as Takashi turns to stare at me.

"Based on what i know..and from what Saya said...these things can only hear and feel...but the feeling part is a bit weird...as they seem to ignore inanimate objects...so i don't know if it comes down to heat or something...as i never had the chance to see how they react to a hot inanimate object...i do remember that they kept clawing at the Humvees hood when i used it to block the hole in the estate...but it's not a good way to confirm anything...

Anyway, the reason i mention this...is because i think that they can't function well underwater...they probably can't drown, but if they can't also walk or swim... that means the only way for them to move is by current...so as long as they are not already out in deep-sea they should not be able to 'leave' by sea...but we can." I say as i point towards the boat that was outside.

Takashi narrows his eyes and lowers his head slightly, i get up and walk towards the window, in order to get a better look at the boat.

"We do need to find a place that is safe from...them...don't we? Who knows when we will find another boat that can function without electricity..." As i finish speaking i hear a door close.

"Good morning Saeko" As Takashi speaks i turn around.

"Good morning..." Saeko was looking at me as she spoke.

"Morning Saeko...could you...please get the others?...there is something we need to discuss." I say as i look at the stairs that lead to the second floor before turning to her.

She looks at me before glancing at Takashi...and nods, then moves towards the stairs, and the moment she disappeared.

"Of course, this is a group decision, so we can decide based on what the whole group thinks...and...you can say that it was your idea. In case you think that if saying that it's mine can change...the vote outcome" I say as i walk up to Takashi and sit on a chair near him.

"And we should tell them that i'm not kicking you out...before everybody starts giving me the cold shoulder" He drops his shoulders and shakes his head as he speaks, i just nod at him.

And a couple of minutes later the whole group was down...all of em...expect of Rei.

"Rei said she can't come down right now..." Saeko glances at the stairs as she speaks.

(Hah! called it!...Hope she can still walk...and i do have to thank her...their...private time...probably calmed Takashi down enough to make him see how retarded he was...especially as it was partly because of Saeko...wait...uhh...does that mean that i almost got kicked out because of Saeko...weird, considering she would be the first one to leave too...maybe that is why Takashi backed out so readily...uhh...human relationships are weird)

As i was thinking Shizuka, with an oddly serious face, spoke up.

"Takashi...i will say it again, stop this...it's.."

"It's Alright Shizuka" I cut her off as i raise my arm.

"No Naier it is not, it's not r..."

"Naier is going to stay, we...came to an agreement" Takashi cuts her off this time.

"About time you saw how stupid this whole thing was" Saya folds her arms as she glares at Takashi.

"Yes, yes...sorry...i overreacted" He raises his arms as he speaks.

"But...I do agree on something with Takashi in this...i'd prefer if you no longer hid things from us..." Saeko adds right after as she turned to look at me...and...i found my self grinning.

"Ohhh...no secrets...ok...Takashi, you go first. The 'thing' you told me outside" I say as i point my thumb at him...and the group turns to him.

"Huh what?" He turns to me as his eyes go wide.

"Yea no secrets!" Alice was the first one to run up to him and tug his pants.

"Uhh, it's nothing really." He says with an awkward laugh as he shoots a glare at me.

"Ohhh, I want to know, tell me, tell me" Alice keeps tugging on Takashi's pants.

"R...really it's nothing!" He says as he starts sweating and turns to me again.

"Ohhh this looks fun! I want to know too!" Shizuka runs to him and starts tugging his shirt as she kept giggling.

"Uhh i swear i got no secret, Naier is just messing with you all...right?!" He turns to me again...

"You promised!" He says with his lips.

"No i didn't" I answer with a smirk.

"Fine, Takashi told me..." The whole group then turns to me...along with Takashi. His expression was...difficult to explain...something between glaring and pleading?.

"That the day the outbreak happened he actually forgot to wear underwear, and he realized it only after he exited his front door, in other words, he nearly welcomed the outbreak while going commando." I say as i fold my arms.

...And then the group started making 'noise'...laughing, scolding...talking? i think it was a mix all of all the above...

While the group was causing a commotion Takashi leaned to me.

"Naier! What was that for!..." He asks me in a 'low' tone.

"Count it as Payback for what you dragged me through yesterday...i was bored out of my mind in that room, now we're even" I say to him in a low tone.

"I thought you were not mad!" He answers to me.

"I'm not" I respond as I turn to look at the boat in the back yard.

(Static electricity, you have my thanks)


	30. Fachoo!

"I can't believe i'm going to rate this place higher, compared to the apartment we were in a couple of hours ago...but i will..." Takashi looked at the sea, while sitting on the shack's steps...wearing his new uhh...'swimsuit'.

"Well Takashi, it all comes down to one simple fact." Kohta speaks up as he wiggled about in his own...'swimsuit'.

"Electricity." I add up as i follow the spinning table fan with my hand.

(Apparently, this place had a working generator...the fridges didn't work though, meaning the E.M.P obviously did have an effect on the shack. Still...i find it weird that the electrical grid here didn't get fried. While the generator was plugged out...and this place is obviously not connected to the main power grid...should it really be enough to spare it?...Hmm...well...i'm not an electrician...so i got no frigging idea...still...a working fan, means a working power outlet...so, if we find a working mini-fridge or an ice maker back in town? Fridge problem solved.)

"Yea...this place is like a paradise now, if you consider that most if not all of the apartments on the mainland got reverted back into the stone age." Kohta shoves his face in front of the fan as he speaks.

"Ahhhh, i missed technology..." He says right after, his voice getting 'cut' by the fan.

"Heh...true...so uhhh...Naier...i take it you won't change into a swimsuit after all?" Takashi asks as he turns to look at the two of us.

"If my choices are between, male stripper...and female highschool student?...Yea...don't take this the wrong way, but i'd rather swim with my clothes." I say as i chuckle and walk out of the shack, then lean my back against the wall that was next to the steps and turn to look straight ahead, towards the sea.

"Hey, it's not my fault that the only thing they had was...this." Takashi looks down at his poor excuse of a swimsuit as he speaks.

"You still wore it though. Then again...i guess your other choice was..."

"Female highschool student swimsuit!" Khota pops ups from inside while making a peace sign.

"Uhh...Well, you don't seem to be too bothered wearing it" Takashi adds up as he turns to Kohta.

"Well, i think it suits you, proves that you are the disgusting geek that you are" Saya, who appeared behind Kohta, throws a casual toxic remark as she walks down the steps...in her own 'not very safe' swimsuit. The same one she wore in the ova, double hair buns and all. She then turns to Takashi and raises an eyebrow.

"This was the only 'male' swimsuit in the shack" He replies as he glanced at her...she makes a silent 'hmm' and looks around.

"I see...so...uhh...whe...where is Naier?" ...Did i just sense...expectation in her voice?...Oh boy, she's going to be so disappointed...wait, did she called me Naier again?...And...how the hell did she even manage to fit her hair in these two buns?...They're way too frigging small...

"Uhh, right behind you..." Takashi answers.

She instantly turns around and...

"...You...didn't change..." She says in a low tone as she keeps staring at me...i think...her shoulders dropped ever slightly?

"Not going to wear 'that' thank you very much." I say as i point at Takashi.

"...You're at the beach idiot, you have to change to a..."

"Ahh, Having the chance to change out of these sweat-drenched clothes feels really nice." Saeko cuts Saya off as she also walks down the steps in her own 'ova' swimsuit...and...uhh...

(Keep staring Takashi...keep...staring, i won't strangle you in your sleep...propably)

She then turns to also stare at Takashi...

(...Great, and now they're staring at each other...)

"...Only...male swimsuit..." He says as his eyes start darting around.

"Hmm, is that so?..." She answers casually as she turns to look at Kohta...and then towards the sea...yet...she didn't turn around...in other words.

(She didn't see me either? Damn, my ninja skills are off the charts today.)

"Where is..."

"Naier is right behind you." Kohta cuts her off with a grin. Saeko then turns around and...

"...Aren't you...hot in these?" She asks as she looks at me.

(Ohh, taking the side road i see)

"Maybe...but i'd rather die from heatstroke rather than wear that thing." I say as i keep leaning my back against the wall and point at Takashi.

"At the beach, you wear a swimsuit idiot. That's the only damn reason they exist" Saya 'glares' at me as she puts her hands on her hips and leans forward.

"I do agree with Saya. Why be at the beach if you can't go for a swim?" Saeko adds up right after her as she tilts her head and folds her arms.

(Holy shit...they're actually working together for this?...)

"Uhh i 'can' go for a swim, my clothes won't explode after touching salt water...i think" I answer.

"But you'll ruin them, you should..."

"There's nothing to eat here..." Rei pops up and cuts off Saeko...just in time too...she was then followed by Shizuka, Alice and Asami...who by the way, was wearing a swimsuit much like Alice's, minus the frilly parts...though...i guess you could say it looked like more like Kohta's then? Except that hers was white.

The rest...went on pretty much like in the anime.

Shizuka started groping her chest, whining that there was nothing to eat and that her chest would start shrinking, Takashi and Kohta started staring...while i...

(Ok, what's with everybody walking down the stairs and turning their backs to me? I didn't know i was 'that' good of a ninja...huh...whatever...guess i'll just have to, OH holy shit keep eyes above waist level...way too many butts here)

Rei then got salty and started playing the damsel, followed by Shizuka...and shortly after Saya, Who also 'silenced' Saeko and Asami by dragging them along, as these two...didn't seem to have realized what the others were trying to pull.

(Well...i repaired for this)

I kick my self off the wall and walk back into the Shack.

"We will look for food!" The two guys respond not too long after.

"Oh! So dependable!...and...where do you think you're going mister! That includes you too!" Rei turns around and points at me as she speaks.

I open my bag and take one of the walkie talkies out along with a combat knife, then toss the bag over my shoulder and turn to her.

"Of course it does" I answer as i walk out of the shack and turn to Kohta.

"Kohta, with me, and grab a net." I say as i toss him the combat knife. He gets up and salutes.

"Sir, Yes sir!" And then runs into the shack.

"Takashi, i want to check the effective distance of these things, so if possible, start off by going in the opposite direction." I say as i toss him the radio, he catches it, gives it a quick glance and nods.

Less than a minute later, Kohta comes out of the shack, waving a small net he found.

"Perfect...so...let's go..."

**Two hour or so ago**

"So...we can use the boat to look at the nearby islands" Takashi looks at the group as he speaks.

"Do we have the time to waste on this?" Rei...then asked the most obvious question.

"My father should be at the Police station, we should go there first" She adds up.

"A police station...will either be evacuated, or it'll be a save zone, both don't have a real 'time limit'. I know that you worry about your parents, but if this trip is successful, we'll be able to actually help your father after finding him" I say after Rei...she...turns to look at me.

(I had to spend a couple of minutes thinking what words i should use...one wrong step here and Rei could blow up at my face)

"Your father is a cop right?...So that means he'll probably try to help survivors, being it a group, or a community. A safe spot from them will be exactly what they'll look for after they get their bearings..." As continue speaking i see Saeko nod.

"Also, knowing that you have a safe place to return can help a lot with moral" Saeko speaks up after me.

"And if we find nothing, then we would have wasted our time." Rei folds her arms and frowns slightly.

"As much as, if the Police station is empty and with no clues" Saeko answers back...and Rei narrows her eyes as she turns to glare at her.

"Rei, if we don't go now, we might never go, as we're not taking that boat with us...it's too bulky and won't be able to drive in reverse effectively if we are dragging the boat trailer along" Takashi finally speaks up.

"But Takashi!" Rei darts her head to him as she raises her voice.

"Rei, i know how you feel...my parents are out there too..all of our parents are out there...but, just think how better it'll be if we find a place that's actually safe from them...we'll have a home again..." As he speaks, Rei lowers her head...and after a bit of silence, she lets out a sigh.

"...If you...believe it's what we should do first Takashi...then...fine...let's check the islands first...having a home again...does sound nice..." She answers before lifting her head to look at Takashi.

"Island" I correct her, causing the group to turn towards me.

"We only have one island that is nearby and is big enough to have a chance of sustaining people...the others are too far...and as we can all see, time is something that we really don't have right now...so, if it's overrun...we'll be back before the day ends...if that's the case, we can head to the police station today...alright?" I 'ask' as i look at Rei, She just nodded.

"Ok...so...lets get ready then..." I say as i walk away from the window.

"Remember, the boat is rather small...so...no ammo boxes." I say as i turn to Kohta who instantly started going towards the garage.

"Oh come on..." He drops his shoulders without turning to me.

"Take a box of dynamite though" I add right after.

"Dynamite?..What for?" Asami asks as she tilts her head.

"In case something needs blocking off, and as they don't really take a lot of space, they won't set us back on anything...also, my five-year-old self likes explosions" I grab my bag as i speak and head towards the stairs.

(I could say that we can use them to check for corpses...but, with the cave open...using dynamite on the beach...not a very smart idea...

Ok...so...things i'll need...

A knife to bribe Kohta to work for me at the 'food' crisis.

A pair of extra 'Adidas' clothes...as i'm NOT going to wear a fucking speedo.

Some food...for fishing. Dynamite for the cave...uhh...some bullets for the shotgun...what else?...uhh...i think i'm good...Ohh, wait. I should ask Saya for a flashlight and the walkie talkies, we have to check how far they can reach, the island is perfect for that.)

And so, after going to my 'room' and getting some extra clothes, i went back down and packed some beef jerky from the fridge, then asked Saya for a flashlight and the walkie talkies, and finally, i got a combat Knife from the Humvee along with a handful of shotgun shells.

After that, we opened the back gate, let the silver SUV roll out of the way and brought the trailer with the boat on the cement dock.

And soon, we were 'sailing' the sea...i figured i would end up rowing with the other two...but...uhh...the group agreed with me when i said that i should be in the front to check the island with the binoculars that Kohta brought...which was good actually...as i know that there's a shack there, they don't...and in the end, i was able to spot the Shack from a relatively far distance...

Though, seeing that the island itself was one small beach and then nothing but tall cliffs...it wasn't too hard to spot...and the fact that it had only one 'sea entrance' meant that once the cave was blocked, corpses would have only that one beach as an entry point. If they somehow ended up in the open sea and drifted towards the island that is.

Now, after the reached the island? We instantly went to the shack...as the group had enough sun to last them...for the next couple of days...me?...Balaclava and mask for the win.

The shack itself was the same as the one in the anime, a small staircase that led the front part of the store. To the left, a 'room' that didn't have walls on the side that faced the sea and the adjacent wall to its left, a railing was placed there instead of the walls. Inside, a couple of seats and tables. To the right a register, two fridges and some hangars with swimsuits. Behind that register was a door that led inside.

The building it self started with a small room that had hangars with various swimsuits...and to the right, a door that led to the changing rooms. To the left, a kitchen...that was also linked to a bathroom...well i say kitchen, but all it actually had was a sink, a table next to that sink that i think...was to act as a kitchen counter? and a fridge...and that's about it, no actual stove to cook anything...or cupboards...hell, it didn't even have chairs.

Now, left to the shack, was a relatively wide sand path...and i think...it was the path that led to the cave..other than that. Behind the shack, after about twenty meters, started the greenery, trees, bushes, you get the idea...there was a wannabe fence set around the perimeter where the 'forested' area started, made out of cut tree branches and rope...flimsy looking, was probably set there before the outbreak, as i don't think it would stop a corpse if it decided that it wanted to pass through.

And finally, the jackpot...a working generator...and a working electrical grid, i nearly teared up when i saw the lights turn on after we plugged in the generator...and...another funny thing...i didn't expect it to be so...quiet. That alone made the group agree that this place was worth staying, even if corpses were on the island. And...speaking of the little shits, i didn't manage to see a single one so far...but sadly, i do know that as long as that cave is open...corpses can get here...now...if there 'are' corpses on the island?...i don't know...

In the anime, the group got quite...'noisy'...and then they all passed out...yet no corpses appeared near the shack and the ones that did appear, were near the cave where Takashi passed out...so, i think our chances are pretty good...not that i will leave it on chance mind you...i am trying to blow up the cave after all.

I could also say that i have mixed feelings about settling near a plantation of hallucinogenic plants...but...ehh, i'm indifferent.

**Present time**

"There's a rock formation nearby. Saw it while we were closing in to the beach. It can act like a natural staircase to instantly dive in deep water..." I say as i point towards the 'cliff' to our right while we walked through the trees.

Kohta nods and turns to walk towards the direction i pointed, while i kept staring at the radio in my hand.

(...This thing...is...crap...i have been getting nothing but static ever since we passed what...a hundred meters?...I do hear a 'click' sound, which signifies that the radios still connect...but instead of a voice, all i hear is static...)

I press on the 'talk' button two times in quick succession as i tilt my head and narrow my eyes...and shortly after, i get two quick 'clicks' as an answer...

"Hm, Hm...yes, this place can work perfectly" Kohta nods with his hand under his chin after looking around the rocks...i...could actually see the girls and the shack from here...not clearly though as it was not what you'd call...near.

"And uhh...how are you going to hunt?...You're not gonna start...throwing dynamite in the water...are you?" He asks as he turns to me.

"Sounds fun...but no, that would ruin the ecosystem and in turn, any future food source from here." I say as i take off my bag, open it and toss the radio inside.

"Then?...Wait...don't tell me you can catch fish bare-handed..." He says as he attaches the knife to a branch and warps it with some vines.

"Yea, no...i'm not diving, you are..." I say as i take the jerky pack out of the bag, get up and hand it to him.

"Huh...you had food? i didn't know..."

"Don't eat them, use them as lure...no idea if it'll work...but uhh...worth a try." I cut him off and grab his hand before he could bring the slice to his mouth.

"As for what i will do? I gave you the equipment and the location, i can't do everything now can i? ...Also, i don't want to give certain people the pleasure of seeing me with my clothes drenched..." I say as i turn to glance towards the direction of the shack.

"Uhh well...the equipment is half the work, so i guess we can share the spoils." He responds as he starts walking down the rock formation.

"I, i captain" I answer as i throw the bag over my shoulder and walk behind him.

"Hey...if i'm the captain...then why am i the one doing the dirty work here?" He asks.

"The crew needs to see your faith...otherwise...it's the plank" I say with a slight chuckle as i keep walking behind him.

"Huh, when did we become pirates?" He asks as he stops on the lowest rock, which was a relatively long and flat boulder that looked somewhat like an arrowhead.

"The moment you decided to become Rambo" I point at the red bandana on his head.

"Uhhh...fair enough...so...bombs away!" He shouts as he runs over to the corner and jumps to the sea.

I sit down on the edge and look at Kohta as he starts swimming around.

(Ok...so...let's go over the plan one more time...

For starters...i don't know how i can stop the whole hallucination thing...i have no idea how the leaves look, i have no idea where Zeke found them...as apparently it was him that brought them in the anime... so i can't think of a good way to explain this...'Hey, this place has hallucinogenic plants, i don't know where, i don't know how...i don't even know how they look. But i know that somebody will get them and we will end up fantasizing about weird shit'...heh.

I could, hypothetically, make Shizuka notice them before we start the fire, as she was the one that knew them by name...but that would create another problem. If the others won't get knocked out, then i won't be able to instantly storm off with the dynamite towards the cave...so it actually works in my favor for the group to fall asleep. That way they won't complain that i went by my self...or ask why i wanted to take the dynamite on a date with me around the island.

I will just have to make sure that the smoke won't affect me as much as the rest...Hmm...it's smoke so... i can detach the balaclava from the mask and submerge it in water, then put it over my mouth and nose...and hope that it works on the sort term...plus...i can just leave the moment i see the smoke rising...as once i move away from the campfire, i should be safe. As long as the wind doesn't decide to be a fucktard that is)

"This is no fun, i need a challenge!" I hear Kohta shout.

"Then go find an octopus or something!" I answer back without looking down.

"Ohh good idea!...Now i want to eat octopus! I hope somebody knows how to cook it properly!" The moment Kohta finished speaking, i heard the should of splashing...and then, silence.

I lie down on the rock, put my arms behind my head and cross my legs.

"Shame i can't let my self get used to this...tomorrow we will be back to 'run from the flesh-eating corpses' after all " I close my eyes as i speak.

(Still...how long till we finally find a safe place to stay?...In the manga the group headed towards the elementary school...their initial mission, which was to find their parents...will come to an end there...as both Rei's dad and Takashi's mom 'should' be there...Then what?...they get extracted and get sent to god knows where? It was mentioned in the police station that there would be an evacuation in the elementary school...well...in the manga, Shido managed to get there first...meaning there is a possibility that they didn't get extracted because...reasons...)

I open my eyes and glance around to see that nothing had changed, so i closed my eyes again.

(But now, i have another 'personal' problem to deal with...that being that we are close to the manga's end...after we return from here...we'll go to the police station...then head towards the elementary school...and find Rei's mother on the way...after that?...after that...i don't know...and that's the fucking problem here...i got too used to knowing what's going to happen...i'd be lying if said that i think that everything will go just fine)

I shake my head and let out a sigh.

(Still...we have one more member...we have the Humvee..and Shido is dead, so we won't have to deal with his shit in the elementary school...plus...the estate is still standing and even if they did leave and set base elsewhere, it's still an obvious positive...i would like to believe that all that will boil down to less crap coming towards our way after i no longer know what up to come...but that is just wishful thinking...ughh...best i can do...is be 'prepared'...)

And so...time passed like that...'that' being...me doing nothing, not that i'm complaining mind you. I did keep whining that i wanted a break after all...Until...the sun started to paint the sea in an orange color.

(Well...about time we return)

I get up and start looking at the sea below me, until i saw Kohta surfacing.

"Alright cap, it's about time we returned, it's starting to get dark" Kohta turns to look at me as i speak, and nods.

"I will swim to the shore from here, too high to climb up" He responds and dives back down. I nod, get up and start going back on foot.

The forested area i was in was rather small, so it didn't take too long until i was on the beach again, with the Shack being a straight line from me. The big forest, in other words, the deeper part of the island was actually to my right at the moment...not that i had any interest in going there though.

On my way to the Shack, i found Kohta waiting for me, so in the end, we ended up reaching our destination at the same time...right when Rei was chewing off Takashi...for not finding anything...i guess some things can't change...

"Sorry for being late!" Kohta shouts as he walks into the shack, making the group to turn to him...or well...us.

"Dinner is served!" He shouts with a grin and lifts a net full of fish...and after the girls were pretty much left with their mouths agape, he started explaining how he had special training the seventh grade with a member of SAS...you know...casual stuff...

"Wow...Fish!" Alice shouts.

"Heheh, good job Kohta!" Asami giggles right after.

"Well...at least somebody is useful..." Saya turns to look at Takashi as he lowered his head...and then turned to stare at...me?

"You two useless idiots are going to eat after we're all done." She says as she folds her arms and looks at Takashi again.

It took me a couple of seconds to realize who these...'two' were...

"Uhh...i'm staying in the corner because?" I tilt my head.

"Sleeping on a rock doesn't count as hunting" She says as she turns to me and narrows her eyes.

"I provided the tools and location, also...you were spying on me? " I say as i also fold my arms.

"I..i wasn't spying!...i...just had to make sure you weren't..."

"I already agreed with Naier to share half my catch, so half of what i'm holding is actually 'his'." Kohta cuts hers off.

"Hey! I wasn't finished talking fatso!" She shouts as she snaps her head to him...yet, he stayed as giddy as ever.

"My, look who turned out to be quite the shrewd businessman" Shizuka puts her finger over her mouth and tilts her head as she giggles.

"Indeed, half the catch and you didn't even get wet. Rather impressive." Saeko adds right after in a casual tone.

(...Why every time Saeko says the word 'wet', i'm getting the wrong kind of flashbacks?...)

"Well, no point wasting time about it, let's get the fish ready!" Rei jumps off her seat and walks up to Kohta.

"We'll clean the fish, you can wait outside, the sink inside still works, shame it has nothing inside to cook them with though. So, you can wait outside by the campfire." Rei takes the net as she speaks.

And after the girls disappeared into the shack...

"Thanks for the lure" Kohta throws me the remaining jerky. I grab it and leave it on a table next to me.

"If they see it now...ehh whatever, still got the fish because of it" I shrug as i look at the pack...there was still plenty left inside...though i don't know how to would taste after getting submerged in saltwater.

(Still, i wonder where this place gets its water from...too far to be connected to the mainland...and this place has no other buildings...sea water?...Or the island has a natural underground lake or something?...hmm...well, we haven't tried drinking the water from the shack's tap...just to be safe...as nobody can figure out if it's drinkable or not)

"Ughh...maybe i should've joined you guys..." Takashi says as he lifts his head.

"You were really getting chewed on...good thing we came when we did" Kohta responds...Takashi lets out an awkward laugh, gets up, comes over to me and extends his arm, the walkie talky in his hand.

"Let me guess...nothing but static and clicks after a short distance?" I say as i take the radio and put it in my bag. Takashi just nodded.

And so, while the girls were dealing with the fish, we went outside. Before following the others i also grabbed a small towel and left my backpack on a chair.

(Now that i think of it, i would like to avoid tossing the balaclava in saltwater...so i'll use a towel instead.)

After some time passed, the girls also started to come out, with a couple of fish already skewered on sticks.

"We'll have to figure out a way to preserve the rest...we really need to find a way to make ice somehow." Saya starts talking as she walks up to us and sits on one of the rocks that surrounded the unlit campfire...i don't have to mention that her seat wasn't anywhere near mine do i?

"A working ice machine would function here, as long as the generator keeps running" I answer as the rest of the girls also started to sit around the campfire.

"Well...go find one then" Saya responds with a grin.

"Sure...that would mean i have to go back in town though, so, do i take somebody with me...or i go by my self and get yelled at after i return?" I chuckle as i speak and turn to look at the boat.

"I could come with you, to save you from the yelling part" Saeko, who was sitting next to me, responds with a smile...causing Saya to turn to her as she puffed her cheeks and narrowed her eyes.

"Uhh...how are we going to light up the fire?" Rei asks as she looks at the campfire.

"Oh, i know a couple of ways! We can..."

Before Kohta could even finish speaking, i pulled the lighter that Saya's dad gave me and flipped it open

(Funny thing is...i actually forgot about the lighter when thinking of the stuff i needed to take with me...good thing i always have it on me)

"Or, we can use this" I cut him off as i turn on the lighter.

"Or...we can use this..." Kohta looked kind of...dejected as he responded...guess...i just stole his thunder.

"Huh, so aren't totally useless after all." Saya raises an eyebrow as she looks at me with a slight smirk.

(...ok, now you're asking for it now princess...)

"Yea, i don't remember where i found it though, i just remember having it one morning, after i woke up...i think...i might have...moved in my sleep..." I answer casually...

Saya's eyes go wide as her face turns red...she opens her mouth...but says nothing. She just...turned to look at the campfire.

"J...just shut up and light up the fire already idiot" She says she keeps looking at the campfire, her arms folded to the point that you'd think she was actually hugging her self.

I nodded, took a silent deep breath, lit up the fire...and held my breath.

(Too mean?...uhh...nahh, things like picking on her about how i carried her to her mom is what would be mean...)

"Good thing we didn't capsize...Rika would be really mad if we ruined her guns...umm...are you going to eat with the mask on?" Shizuka asks as she tilts her head, jumping from subject to another like it's going out of style.

(Perfect, thank you Shizuka)

"Right, i'm going to the shack for a sec...don't want to leave it on the sand" I say as i get up and walk towards the Shack.

I go up the steps, grab my bag and go inside the main room, then close the door behind me...and take a deep breath. I then look around and grab another small towel before going to the sink in the kitchen.

"Better not touch the sink with the towel...lest i want to smell fish for the rest of the night...even if the sink looks 'clean'..." I nod to myself put the towel under the faucet and open it.

"Ok...i will wait here for a bit...then move out...i could also take Saeko's sword with me...or...not...last thing i want, is to ruin it." I turn to look at the shotgun that i still had on me...let me tell you, these three-way slings...real godsend.

"You will do as fine i suppose" I then went back to the main room and next to the door that led outside, where Kohta had left the dynamite box, i opened it and started filling my bag.

"Don't know how many i'll need...but, better safe than sorry" After the bag was full i get up and put my hand on the handle, yet before i could even open it, I hear Shizuka shout about the leaf's properties...and Takashi shouting shortly after for everybody to run...i nod to my self and open the door slightly...

First thing i saw?...Kohta in a white bandana...screaming something about Vietnam?...

"Alright..." I close the door, take off my headgear and put the balaclava in my bag. Then i press the towel against my mouth and wear the mask again...

"Ughh i can feel it dripping on my neck...this shit better be worth it" I wipe my neck with my hand...and turn to the door.

"Alright, no pressure, just get out, turn right, jump over the Shack's railing and then go right again, then follow that path...Takashi managed to get to that fucking cave while sleepwalking...so it can't be that far...ok...let's go" And the moment i opened the door.

"VICTORYYYY, FREEEEDOOOM!" Kohta screams as he keeps running around on the beach...behind him.

"Stop! Resisting arrest is against the law! Stop!" Asami, chasing after him with a...stick...

Shizuka was on top of Takashi along with Rei doing...stuff...i...couldn't see Saya or Saeko anywhere though...bad, because i have no idea where they went...good, because they were not on top of Takashi...i would probably get triggered really bad if i saw them going after him now...and i guess...Alice went for water as per in the anime?

I nod to my self and start running to my right, glancing at Saeko's sword as i run towards the railing.

"Yea, better if i don't..." I jump over the railing and turn right while i was still in the air...and the moment i touched the i ground...

"Ehehe...gotcha~" Something violently pushing me forward and to the left...thankfully, i was able to keep my self from falling...but now...i had somebody clinging on my back...

(...Well...that went south fast...WAY too fast)

"Uhh...Whatever it was...i didn't d..." Before i could finish, a hand lands on my shoulder and spins me around...and i end up face to face with Saya...or you know...face to shoulder...being it that Saya is well...a bit short...

She grabs my shirt's collar with both hands and tries to pull me to her hight...i grab her hands and start walking backward...while she kept moving forward.

(At least...she didn't wander off...)

"And...where do you think you're going?" She asks with a sly smile.

"Ohh...you know...around..." I say as i keep walking backward, slowly trying to pry her hands off me.

(Why is her grip this fucking strong?!)

"It's...not fair..." She lowers her head...

"Takashi...kept ignoring me all these years...yet the moment his stupid girlfriend comes back to him, even after she dumped him for his 'best friend'. He instantly runs after her like a stupid dog! And now, even Kohta is acting all lovely dovely with Asami in front of me to rub it in!

And you...why is Saeko staring at you all of the time now?!...You...you said that you find Saeko interesting...but...you also said that you find me interesting...you said that in the estate...and yet...i'm the only one being left in the corner again..." She keeps her head lowered as her grip on me tighters...

"Why...why do i have to be the only one that's left out again! Why can't you pay more attention to me!" And...she starts shaking me as she lifts her head.

"Saya...you're...being affected by whatever this smoke is and uhh...yea...you need to go somewhere safe...and go to uhh...go to sleep? Please?" I say as i put my hands on her shoulders and try to keep her off me...and...i'm having the weirdest mixed feelings right now...

To my surprise...she stops trying to latch her self on me...and lowers her head again...yet, she doesn't let go of me.

"Ughh...I...do feel rather light-headed, so i maybe you're right...the smoke...must be affecting me..." She shakes her head...before lifting it to look at me again...with a...grin?

"So...it'll be fine...no matter what i do now...is fine...right?" She narrows her eyes and smiles seductively as she 'asks'.

"Uhh...i don't think that's how it wo..."

Before i could even finish speaking, she had taken her hands off my collar...and grabbed my mask...which she then yanked off without too much trouble...at least...with her hands on my mask...i was now free...though i lost the towel...along with the mask.

"Finally...i can finally see your face again...why do you keep wearing this stupid thing anyway..." She says with a smile as she casually tosses the mask behind her.

(I...really...REALLY want to sit down and explain to her how awesome my mask is...but...Shit, got to go, right now.)

I turn around...and...i didn't even manage to take two steps...before...I came face to face with Saeko, who came running from behind the Shack...three to four meters away from me...

(Really now?!)

"Naier!Thank God i found you! Come on! We have to get out of here, quickly!" She extends her arm to me. I just...stared at her hand...

(...If...if i take her hand and go with her...then...ughh, fuck, no, focus...)

"Hey! i got to him first, don't butt in!" I hear Saya shout behind me.

"It..it's the smoke, come on Naier...we have to move...Now!" Saeko starts leaning towards me. Her eyes looking at me almost as if she was...begging...

"The smoke is affecting you too Saeko, we...must not go deeper into the woods, we don't know what might be in there, both of you should go back inside the shack and rest" I respond.

(Why...am i even trying to reason with them?...)

"...Y...yes you're right...going...out there is dangerous in our current state...let's...go back inside the shack..." Much to my surprise, Saeko lowers her hand and calmly nods.

Yet...before i could react, i saw her eyes go wide...and then...she charged straight at me.

(The fuck?!)

I jump to the side and turn around to look behind me...only to see Saya as she ran past me...and straight towards Saeko...

"Wha?!..."

That...was all they managed to say as they end up crashing into each other, with Saeko pushing Saya back a couple of meters, going well past the Shack and into the beach before falling on the ground...with Saeko on top of Saya...

I run towards them, only to hear...uhh...moan..ing?...Shortly after, i also notice that they were...hugging each other...

(...I just realized...Saeko's body is actually visibly more toned compared to Say...Arrghh! Fuck! Focus! No! Don't fuck! Just focus!)

Saeko, with her eyes still closed, then brings her lips close to Saya's ear and whispers something...then lowers her head and nuzzles against her neck.

"S...stahh..." Saya, despite her...'protest'...wraps her hands around Saeko's head and...uhh...

(Ok...get the fuck out of here...right now...before my eyes fall out...or i lose what little self-control i got left)

I turn around...only to see my mask...on the ground...and i quickly put my hands to my face.

"Shit!, forgot that Saya pulled off my mask!" i quickly grab it and wear it...

"Uhh...did i breath it?...ohh who the fuck am i kidding...of coursed i breathed it! I always breath!" I shake my head with a groan and start heading towards the cave...yet...i didn't get too far, as i started feeling sluggish a couple of steps later...and ended up on one knee not long after.

"Shit...the wind blowing from the sea towards me? Oh...of course it fucking is...Still, i need to do this before i pass out...corpses could have heard all this...they might be moving in the cave as i speak" I shake my head and get up. Yet...i fell to the ground again...two steps later...As i looked up this time though...I saw...a blurry figure?

**"Do you want power?"**

"What?"

**"Do you want power?"**

"Uhhh, i want to stay awake...does that count as power?"

**"yes or no"**

"Wait for real?"

**"YES OR NO"**

"Fuck, yes, fine, yes, i need to stay awake"

**"Your desires shall be granted"**

"My desires actually just fell sleep after bumping into each other...and they are now uhh..."

**"Will you shut up for a second please, i'm trying to concentrate here"**

"Uhh...Ok...sorry"

(Dick)

**"Call me dick again and i will kill you off before the end of this chapter"**

"What?!" And Naier, suddenly felt a new power coursing through him, he gets up and looks around.

"Ok...this...was weird, this smoke...is way weirder than i imagined...did i fall alseep?...i don't feel sluggish any more..." He says as he ponders what just happened.

"Uhh...wait... something...is definitely...weird" Naier tries to think as...

"Wait...who the fuck are you?!" Naier sh...

"Don't avoid my question! And why do you keep saying my name!" ...Well...shit...it's going to be one of those...

"What? One of what?...That's it, I've gone nuts...i'm hearing voices in my head!"

**Oh by the way, you all must have realized how this is going to go now, If don't like this type of thing...skip to the end, to the next set of bold letters...actually you can just skip this chapter altogether...though...you will miss out the poll and whatever story is in here.**

"And who in hell are you talking to now?!" Nobody, don't mind me.

"I...must have fallen asleep...shit...ughh...how the hell do i wake my self up? " Naier pinches him self...yet to his surprise, he felt pain.

"Please don't tell me that you are going to do this every time i do something..." Naier groans in displeasure as he...

"Ok, ok , i get it...now please...be quiet for...one second...i need to think" Naier sh..

"ONE. SECOND."...

"Ok...ok...i felt pain...weird considering this is a dream" Naier then presses his hands together.

"...If you know that they are supposed to pass through...then it is possible that they won't...right?"...You're...not dreaming.

"Bullshit, if i'm not dreaming...them i'm hallucinating" Maybe...but you're not asleep...so try to avoid killing anybody from your group if you want to test it out.

"...Can i kill you instead?" Nope and trust me, you don't want me dead.

"Why?" Because i'm here to help.

"Huh...help ehh? You know, this is weird enough as it is...how are you going to help me...voice in my head?" By making sure you survive this night.

"...You know what...i don't care, i'll bite...the main point is still the same, i need to blast that fucking cave" Naier shakes his head and turns to look at the path that led to the cave.

"...The sooner i finish this, the sooner it will end...before i go insane" Naier then starts w..Ahhhhh! Wait wait wait!

"Huh, what now?" You can't go there...yet...this path does lead to the cave...but you can't go there yet.

"...Because?" Because...You...need to go in the opposite direction...to the right of the shack...towards the big forested area.

"...Because?" Because the cave ain't a place you want to waltz in like this.

"...The longer i take, the bigger the chance of corpses coming here, and the rest of the group is...uhh..." Naier looks at the other members of the group as they were...uhh...

"...Can you not copy me?"...Sorry...it's just...i can't say that crap out loud...

"Why? Takashi is just groping..." STAAAP! Forest! Forest first!...The group will be fine, trust me.

"...A voice in my head is telling me to trust it with the lives of my group...you nuts?...i'm nuts..." Well, you can go to the cave then, but you WILL end up backtracking, i'm trying to save you time here...

"Yea, that sounds like a perfect plan" Naier turns around, and foolishly continues towards the cave, shotgun in hand, dynamites in bag...you didn't forget to take ammo right? or the lighter? Not that you will need it right now.

"Yes Dad, i didn't forget anything" ...i detect sarcasm.

"I detect a sarcastic voice in my head" Touche.

By the time Naier got near the cave...it was already dark, as he insisted on ignoring the directions of the handsome voi...

"The fucking hell that you sound handsome, you sound more like a squeaking rubber duck...i do admit that i took a wrong turn though..." Four...

"What?" You took four wrong turns...all of em being turns that you took after ignoring my directions...anyway...the cave should be here.

"Yea looks li...uhh...the fuck is this?" And Naier stops in his tracks the moment he sees the cave...or well...what was in front of it...that being corpses...a lot of them...like...twenty? thirty?...

"Why there's a corpse party here?...That's...not how it's supposed to go..." Corpse party?...I don't see any vengeful spirits or old schools anywhere...uhh anyway...i warned you...forest first...cave second...or you are going to try to deal all of them now?...let me warn you...dynamite will attract even more of them from the cave...so i advise against it. Same deal with the shotgun...

"...Uhh...fine...forest first..." Ohhh, you're going to listen to me now?

"So far, everything you said turned out to be true, both the turns i needed to take and the fact that i would not be able to pass..." At least you now realize it...so...have fun backtracking...

Ohh hey look! There is a small sign next to the cave...uhh...'Underwater pass - this cave is connected to the mainland, under construction, please wear a hard hat before entering'...

"..." And so Naier, starts running back towards the Shack, totally ignoring my totally amazing find.

And once he returned...he..

"...They're...still going at it..."He IGNORED...Saya and Saeko as they...uhh... yea, Naier just kept moving...He kept his face straight and ran past the shack before turning left. He then went straight...and seconds later, he saw Kohta, who had his face on the sand, his hands behind his back and Asami on top of him.

"Aaaahh, Asami can't find her handcuffs! where are her handcuffs! Y...you stole them! Didn't you?!" She shouts at Kohta.

"We will prevail! We will prevail! Freeeddooom!" Kohta kept shouting under her. Either...Asami knows how to hold down a dude twist her size...or Kohta just doesn't care.

Takashi was...uh...elsewhere...not around here...

"What? Takashi is over there with Shizuka and Rei...and he's..." HE. DID. NOT. SEE...Instead, he ran past the Shack, and kept going straight, the forest to his right. Now.

"...uhh...So...i need to keep going straight?" Yes, the target destination is further away, going into the forest now will just slow you down.

"I see..." And so, he kept going straight...

And...Several minutes later...

"Ughh...Out of all the things i could 'see'...why am i getting...this?" Naier ponders as he keeps running down the beach.

"Hey! It's you that i'm asking!" Naier screams at nobody.

"...for-fucking-get it" Naier pouts like a little princess as he keeps running.

"What?! i did not p...Gahh, i'm starting to sound like Saya now"...Naier sighs and keeps running in pure defeat.

"This better...be a one-time thing..." Yea i hope so too...this shit is exhausting.

And so, Naier soon reached the entrance to the forest. Entrance as in a slight opening between the trees, no real roads, path or what so ever...but...he could make out tire tracks that led deeper...a lot of them...so i guess that could be considered as a path.

"Why do i need to come here again?" He asks himself.

"No, it's you i'm asking, not my self" Naier went inside to find his answers.

"...Oh for fuck's sake" And he walked into the forest.

Said forest was eerie enough as it is, being it night, didn't really help, at least there were no corpses to be seen...

"So...what am i looking for?" Naier kept walking straight as he spoke...and kept walking straight even after he finished speaking following the 'path' created by the car tracks.

"...You know if you are going to help, then just tell me 'go straight'..." Naier felt like talking to himself again for some reason.

"...why did i even bother?"

A couple of minutes later, and after seeing only trees and bushes for a while, was the first change...among some trees in the distance, next to a couple of giant boulders...a large open cage, big enough to fit two or three big horses next to each other. It had a thick metal plate for a floor and another same plate as a ceiling, the 'walls' of the cage consisted of metal bars.

"Uhh...please don't tell that's the reason i'm here..." Of course not.

"Huh. So now you awn..." You're here for what was inside the cage.

"...And i should have figured that the only reason you answered...was to fuck up my night even more..." Naier stared at the cage for a couple of seconds.

"So...i... just walk around?" Naier left the cage, but he kept walking while keeping an eye on the car tracks, so he wouldn't end up getting lost in the forest.

"...Ohh...right...uhh...it's the smoke...otherwise...yea..."...Naier thanked the handsome voice in his hea...

"Don't push your luck." ehh...worth a try...

And so, Naier kept following the tire tracks.

"Corpses better not be anywhere near the group..." Don't worry Saya and Saeko are fine.

"I said group" And i know that these two are the only ones you really care for.

"Hey, I might be more worried about these two, but that doesn't mean that i don't care about the rest...i mean...come on i don't want to let Shizuka or Alice get killed. Or Kohta and Asami, when they finally just got together...plus the trouble i went through to save her ass...and uhh...Takashi and Rei...after they...got together...again" After Takashi bashed his 'best friend's' skull in with a bat.

"Uhh...shit's complicated" I know that it's really not...but...let's say that it is...Ohh, by the way. we're here.

Naier then stopped in his tracks as he noticed...something...sleeping...straight ahead of him...

"...It's a...gaint ass wolf" Yep.

"This thing was in the cage wasn't it?" Yep.

"It's lying down...Yet i think it can still reach to about my waist..." Yep.

"Please don't tell me this is what i need to find" Yep, it is.

"It can probably kill me with one bite" Yep.

"And you want me to fight it?" Yep.

"Ok...giant or not...a shotgun should still" No guns.

"...What?" No guns, no swords, no other pointy and, or deadly objects.

"...You for real?" Yep

"Why?" Well...how the hell are you going to tame it if it's dead.

"...uhh...you want me to do what with the how now?" Tame it obviously.

"...I'm leaving" As Naier turns around, the wolf wakes up, notices him...and growls.

"...You...didn't just..." Naier turns around to see the big gray wolf staring at him, now that i was up...its head reach to about the hight of his neck.

"...How the f..." Before Naier could think of stuff that he need not think the wolf changed at him!

"Hey what the hell?!" Ohh don't a sourpuss, this will be fun!

"Fun!? You're fucking nuts !" As Naier keeps whining, the wolf leaps at him. Yet...The moment it got near, He grabs it by the lower jaw, turns around and tosses the wolf forward. The wolf spins around in the air and lands on its feet, sliding a few meters as it stared at Naier with an angry expression.

"...Did i...just do that?" Naier blinks a couple of times before looking at his hands...See, fun.

"Ok, this is weOAA!" Before he could finish, the wolf was charging at him again, this time trying to bite down on his leg. Seeing the wolf's lowered head, Naier steps on it and jumps forward, turning to look at the wolf while he was in the air.

"Ok...i know i got some parkour skills...but shit is insane, how am i doing this?!"...Naier then remembered what he always said...don't question a good thing...

"Touche...so...i'm fist-fighting a giant wolf...seems legit..." And fistfight...he did, as the moment the wolf charged again, he slid his left leg back along with his left hand, while extending his right hand forward. He narrowed his eyes...and the moment the wolf got near he brought his left hand down, flat on the wolf's face, before using his right Knee too kick the wolf back and quickly jump back. The wolf whines for a second before sneezing and turning to look at him again.

"I'm normally against animal violence!" Then get this thing done already, the poor thing can feel pain you know.

"And on whose fucking side are you!?" The side that gives free cookies obviously...

The wolf charges, and realizing that trying to 'wrestle' the beast would be suicidal even now, he focuses on evading it. He sidesteps as the wolf jumps past him, and takes a few steps back. The wolf then turns around and charges at him again.

The next couple of minutes went on with Naier evading the wolf as it kept charging at him, each time faster and with more aggression...

"This shit getting out of hand..." As the wolf charged at him again, Naier, instead of sidestepping, crouches down. Once the wolf got in arms reach, he puts his left hand to the ground behind his back, and with his right hand, he grabs the side of the wolf's head then turns his upper body around and yanks the wolf towards the direction it was already charging at.

The wolf, being unable to stop after getting the extra momentum...and you know...being in the air and not having air brakes. Ends up crashing into a tree that was behind Naier...and with a whine...it stops moving.

"Uhhh...I didn't kill it!...The tree did!" Naier quickly gets up and runs up the wolf, only to see that it was unconscious.

"Ahh...it passed out?"...It passed out...

"I just fought a giant wolf with my bare hands...and won?..." Naier tilted his head as he looked at the downed wolf.

"Ok...that...just happened...probably. Maybe it's all a hallucination and i was actually fighting against air...that...would look really weird from a third party perspective..." Naier takes a deep breath and drops his hands to his knees.

"Ok...now what?" Now you...feed it.

"Uhh...excuse me?" While it's down, you feed it. Until it understands that you're a friend.

"...Are you retarded?" Feeeed iiiit...but yea...got the beef jerky?

"Uhh...yea" Naier takes off his bag, opens it and starts looking inside...

"Uhh...no..." He responds shortly after...

Ok...**FLASHBACK TIME!**

"Wha!?"

_"Thanks for the lure" Kohta throws me the remaining jerky. I grab it and leave it on a table next to me._

End of **FLASHBACK TIME!**

"...Did you have to act this dramatic?" Yesss.

"Why are you suddenly so hyper?" I always wanted to have a giant pet wolf.

"Uhh...Ok back to the shack...hope the wolf won't wake up until i'm back" Ohh don't worry, its torpor is still very high.

"It's what is very what?" Uhh...nothing...just go to the shack.

Naier shakes his head, gives the wolf one last glance and starts running towards the Shack, using the tire tracks to exit the forest. After that, he then followed the same path he took on the beach until he reached the Shack. Once there he jumped up the steps and went to the table that had the meat jerky.

"Hope you don't mind, I'm permanently borrowing this." Naier snatches the food and turns around. As he runs down the steps he turns to look at his group as they were...uhhh...as they were...AAAA...I CAN'T FUCKING READ THIS!...

Uhh...as they were...showing their affection...for each other...Don't worry, they were all still...dressed.

"Except for Rei and Takashi..." THAT'S IT, IM WAKING UP THE WOLF.

"What! NO NONONONO WAIT! I meant...they were...ahhh...patting?...Each other...on the head...vigorously...Takashi mostly..." He turns his head as he speaks...and ends up seeing Saya and Saeko...

"Can i...leave now?...this is...uhh...making it insanely...hard...for me...to concentrate" You can leave...

"Thank you..." Yet, he did not move...

...I said...you can leave...Naier.

"..." ...

Suddenly, Saeko and Saya felt a huge urge to fall in love with Takashi an...Naier then turned around and left with a quick pace...

...Still...i didn't know Saya can be this...aggressive...i mean Saeko..sure, but Sa...

"...Let's focus on the wolf ahh?" Naier nods to himself and starts running towards the spot where the wolf had been knocked out...

"The wolf...better still be out cold" Don't worry, it is.

And, after running back to the forest's entrance and following the tire tracks again, Naier ended up on the spot with the downed wolf.

See, the wolf is still here.

"...Ok...now what?" ...you feed it.

"...You're...not kidding...are you?" Nope, you can actually tame dinosaurs like that too. Just go next to it and feed it...oh and it might take some time so...

"You can tame wha..."

**TIME SKIP!**

...An hour later...Naier, was standing in front at the now awake wolf.

"...This...is so fucking weird..." Naier keeps staring at the wolf at it tilts its head at him...Hey, hey give it a command!

"...Uhh...a command? How it's supposed to even..." Just give it!

"...Sit." The wolf jerks its head and instantly sits down...Naier blinks a couple of times before.

"...Roll..." The wolf lets out a loud bark, drops to the floor and rolls...

"...Explain to me...how the fuck this whole thing even works..." The wolf stops rolling around, gets to a sitting position...and starts barking...in different volume and speed with every bark.

"It's actually trying to explain it ?!" Naier leans his body back as he stares at the wolf.

"Ok...you know what...i don't care...friendly giant wolf is better than hostile giant wolf" The wolf barks affirmatively.

"And how the hell did you know it was an afferm...uhh...fuck it...never mind...i don't care...not the weirdest thing that happened to me today" Naier turns around and leav..HEY!

"Huh, what, i got the wolf. So that means i can go to the cave now, right?" Uhh...yea...but...ain't you gonna name it...err her...also...how to say this without making it sound weird...you can ride this wolf...like a horse, no saddle needed...

"...I can do what now?..Uhh...i don't know if it's good or bad...but for some reason, i'm not even surprised anymore...but yea...name...i do have to name...ehh...her, right?..." Yea, her, so don't name her Jacobs, please.

"Uhh...ok...hmm" Naier thinks for a bit...and.

"Ahh, i got it. Wolf!" The wolf tilts its head and focuses on Naier.

"Your name from now on will be..." As Naier spoke...his nose started itching...

"Ughh, F..." Naier puts his hand to his face to stop himself from sneezing...but you know...mask...

"FACHOOO!" And the wolf then howls to the sky acknowledging her new name! Her new title!

"WHAT?! NO, I SNEASED, YOUR NAME IS NOT FACHOO" The wolf, upon hearing the name Fachoo howls again.

"FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUCKKK!" In a fit of rage, Naier kicks a rock...Fachoo barks excitedly as she runs after the rock.

"STOP...calling her...that" ...

Naier takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down...whipping his tears away, as the wolf comes back to him.

"First, i didn't tear up. Second, I'm wearing a mask smartass, how the hell am i supposed to wipe my tears away?" ...

Fachoo~

"AWOOO!"

"FUCK YOU!"

"...Uhh...focus...the cave...i need to blast that fucking cave...and this nightmare will...hopefully end"

And so, burning with a newfound passion...that i have totally no idea where he got from by the way...Naier mounts Fach...

"..."

His wolf...Naier mounts his wolf...

"Can this night...get any weirder..." ...Uhh...maybe?...

"...Oh boy..." Naier then rides the wolf back to the shack.

With his new friend, Naier managed to reach his destination in a fraction of the time, and once there.

"Ok...i should take the path next to the Shack, it leads to the..." Wait...

"...What...am i going to tame a dragon by stealing its eggs now?" Uhh...sounds fun...but no...go to the Shack and take Saeko's sword with you.

"Dude...or whatever you are...i'm NOT taking her sword...if i end up ruining it she w..." Don't worry. You won't, trust me.

"...Uhh...i must be going mental..." Naier gets off the wolf and runs to the Shack, he climbs the railing and grabs the Katana from the chair it was on, then jumps off the railing and runs back to the wolf.

"Ok...last check" Naier takes off the bag, opens it and...

"A...ahh!...T...there!" A female voice...'shouts'...Naier turns his head towards the sound to see Saya and Sae...Focus!

"Right..." Ignoring the...voices...Naier turns to the bag.

"Dynamite, check...shotgun, check...bullets, check...lighter, check...Sword...check...moaning that is permanently getting recorded into fucking my brain...fuckin triple check.."Naier closes the back, throws it over his shoulder and gets back on the wolf...

"Let's go...now...please..." The wolf barks affirmatively and starts running down the path that led to the cave.

"So...animals are immune to this after all?" Uhh...don't know...guess we will find out now.

"...Are you for fucking real?!" Naier shakes his head as he asks himself.

"Ohh, now you ignore me"

And a couple of minutes later...they were by the cave...the corpses...still there.

"So...now what?..i let the wolf charge in or something?" ...You'd let the poor thing charge in all alone? show some compassion! The wolf whines at me as the voice in my head keeps speaking.

"...So i..." CHAAAAAARGE!

"Wait whaaaaAAAA!" And the wolf charges forward, Naier grabs on to her to keep himself from falling.

"AAA You know what! FUCK IT!" He draws the Katana and lets go of the scabbard.

The moment the wolf gets near the corpse group, she jumps. While in the air Naier lets go of the wolf and puts the sword over his shoulder, and right before touching the ground, he swings horizontally towards the nearest corpse, taking its head off with a clean cut.

The moment he touched the ground he grabs the now decapitated corpse and tosses it to the left on a couple of other corpses, he then leans towards the right as he follows up with a stab, passing the blade right trough a corpse's head that was to his right. With the tip of the sword still inside the head, he turns around grabs the sword with both hands, bringing the sword over his head.

He then follows up with a strong vertical slash as he takes a step forward, blood flying in an ark as the sword went from the corpse head that was behind him, to the corpse head the was in front of him. He glances to his left and then twists the sword to the left before lowering his posture, slamming his right shoulder into the corpse that still had the blade in its head, sending the twitching body tumbling backward. With his left-hand folded he then passes the sword over his head and grabs it with both hands.

He then takes a large step forward as he brings the sword down in a sideways slash, cutting the last nearby corpse in two. All the way from its right shoulder, to its left lower side, and once the corpse's upper torso fell to the ground, he tosses the sword slightly on the air, reverse grabs the hilt and lands the blade on the back of the corpse's head before pulling the blade back out, tossing it in the air again and grabbing it normally.

He then takes a deep breath and looks at the dead corpses around him...

"Holy shit...did i just...do all this?" As he ponders, a corpse charged at him from behind.

He sidesteps and grabs it by the arm, then with a quick motion, he kicks it on the back of its knee while still holding on to its the arm, as the corpse falls to its knees he cleaves both its head and arm off.

He then turns around and walks to the nearest lone corpse, he shoves the 'extra' arm in the corpse's mouth before grabbing by the neck, and as he turns around, he throws it towards the declining corpse group.

"...I...don't remember being...THIS good..." Wish Saeko was here to see you?...I do wonder...how would she react if she saw you...

And so, while Naier was busy dealing with the corpses on his side and wonder whether Saeko would get all hot and bothered by his actions...

"Hey! It was you who wondered that, not me!" Fachoo was tearing everything a new one, hands and legs flying left and right, whatever corpse managed to get a hold of her, got shaken off by the constant jumping and running, or, it ended up getting bitten in the neck first...

"Ignoring me huh...and her name is not Fachoo..." Naier whines in a low tone, yet the moment he uttered the name, the wolf turns towards him, barks and runs up to him, all covered in blood...from head to toe...wonder if i should change her race from 'gray wolf', to 'red wolf'.

"Uhh...does it matters...but i do admit...you were right...having her here made this...way easier" Naier pats the wolf on the head as he looks at the remaining corpses that were shambling towards them...then at the corpses that were stuck under the bodies that he tossed around...

"Well...let's finish this huh?" Fachoo barks loudly before running a circle around him and back into the fray.

"You're...going to keep calling her that...aren't you?" Naier asks something obvious as he casually walks up to a corpse that was reaching out for him while it was still stuck under and unmoving body...and stabs it on the head...

"...Figures" He then looks around until he spots the sword's scabbard. He then runs up to it and picks it up.

"Uhh... better if a certain somebody doesn't learn that i just tossed this to the ground" He says as he dusts off the scabbard with his hand before sheathing the sword.

He turns around to see that the corpse group had all but disappeared...With Fachoo sitting in the center while wagging her tail.

"...How...did i even survive fighting that wolf?" He tilts his head as he looks at the bloody mess.

"Uhh...no matter...cave..." Naier takes a deep breath and walks towards the cave, with Fachoo following behind him.

"Alright...You ready?" He says as he turns towards the bloody wolf...which replies with an excited bark, as energetic as ever.

And so, with a nod, Naier charges forward. Deeper into the dark cave, dete...

"Hey did anybody bring a torch? i forgot mine!"

God damn it Naier, i'm trying to narrate here!

"Sorry!.."

...And so, Naier charges forward. Deeper into the dark cave, dete...

"Never mind, i found a flashlight!"

GOD DAMN IT!

"Ohh...and by the way!...The dynamite...how can i blow up the cave without burying my self under the rubble?"...You're the hero...figure it out...

"Oh, come on! just help me out for once!"

You mean twice...Ughh...you'll find some gasoline canisters in there...you have the lighter...use the gasoline to make a line after dousing the dynamites...after you go far enough, light up the fuel line with the lighter.

"Thanks" You're welcome, Now try not to die off-screen.

"Hardass till the end huh..." What was that? All the girls in the team like Takashi now?

"...I said nothing..." Thought so...

**Ohh by the way, bolt text here, craziness stops...somewhat...**

...

**Several hours later**

Saya slowly opens her eyes, a smile on her face as she kept hugging the person that was resting on top of her.

She moves her hands to her head and rubs her eyes before touching around her face, trying to find her glasses, which she found resting on her forehead. She lowers them until they were on her eyes and then turns to look at the sleeping person that was on top of her...and...blinks...several times.

"Uhh...wait...S...Saeko?...why...why are you on top of me?...Hey." She shakes the sleeping girl with a confused expression.

"Hmm...Naier..." Saeko responds by tightening her grip around Saya's waist, snuggling up to her.

Saya's expression...then instantly turns into a frown...her eyebrows becoming...somewhat of a straight line as she narrows her eyes...She slowly brings her fingers around Saeko's sides...and pokes...hard.

"YIAAA!" Saeko yelps as she squirms. She then springs off Saya and ends up sitting with her hands behind her back.

"W...what happened..." Still half asleep she stares at Saya who got up and fixed her swimsuit.

"You...wouldn't let go of me..." She responds.

Saeko blinks a couple of times.

"Of...you?" She falls in though for a couple of seconds as she keeps staring at Saya...and then her eyes go wide as her face goes red.

"Yes...me...why?...Who did you think you were hugging?" Saya raises an eyebrow as she stares with a sly grin...her face...still flushed none the less.

"N...nobody...we...we need to make sure the others are alright..." Saeko responds as she starts getting up.

Yet before she could even get up...

"REVOLUTIOOOOOOON" Kohta jumps out of Shack and starts running...waving a broom around like a flag.

"Stop! You can't escape! The more you resist, the longer your sentence will be! Stop right there!" Asami also jumps out of the Shack shortly after, waving a stick in the air as she chases after Kohta...

"Are they...awake?...Their eyes were open..." Saeko asks as she gets up and stares at the unfolding event.

"Uhh...They better not...be awake..." Saya responds with her mouth half-open.

"Hmm...wait...is that?" Saeko walks towards the hut, next to the railing, on the sand, her sheathed sword. She picks it up and partially draws out the blade.

"Why...is my sword here...i'm pretty sure i left it on one of the seats..." She asks as she looks around.

"No idea, maybe Kohta or Asami took it during their...uhh...adventure" Saya responds as she keeps staring at the two while they kept running around.

"We...should probably wake them up" Saeko says as she walks up to Saya, her sword in her hand, Saya turns to look at her and nods.

Yet, before they could even get to them, they notice that Shizuka and Rei laid flat on the sand...both with a...uhh...'happy' expression...and as they got close.

"...Rikkaaa...what's taking you so long...come back here alreadyyy..."

"Takashiii...where did you go...Takashiiii..."

Both Shizuka and Rei were talking in their sleep...

"Let's...wake them up..." Saya speaks up in a monotone voice as she stared at them.

"Y...yes..." Saeko responds.

After some time of shaking, both of them open their eyes, a smile still plastered on their faces.

"Huh...Takashi?...Where is Takashi..." Rei started asking the moment she opened her eyes. Shizuka just got up to a sitting position without speaking, she stretched with a yawn and just stared 'forward' with a sleepy expression...

"Takashi...was not here when we found you" Saeko responds.

"What...but...i..."

"REVOLUTTIOOOON!" Before she could even finish, Kohta crashes into the group like a cannonball, knocking Saya down under him.

Several screams, slaps and idiot nominations later...the group was sitting by the sea...all of them hugging their knees as they stared at the ocean.

"Hallucinations...it was nothing...but hallucinations..." Saya says with a deadpan voice.

"...Yes...none of it was real...everything was an unfortunate accident" Saeko answers with the same deadpan voice.

"But we were still moving around...what we did...was probably real" Kohta responds.

"Shut up Fatso...i don't want to hear any of it" Saya answers without raising her voice.

"We still need to find Takashi..." Rei speaks up after her.

"And Naier..." Saeko says right after.

"And Alice..." Asami adds up.

And...speaking of the devil.

"H..help! Takashi! Takashi is in trouble!" Alice comes up running to them with a couple of bottles in her arms.

The group turns to her before looking at each other...and they all nod before getting up. They then follow Alice to the cave's entrance...and stop dead in their tracks...

"What...the..." Saya was the first one to speak as she looked at the corpse group that was in front of the cave...or...well...what remained of it...

"Eheehe...girls...stop it...we mustn't..."

Their sight then gets drawn to a voice...which ends up being Takashi...who was lying on top of a couple of 'dead' corpses.

"Did...he do all this?" Shizuka asks.

"I...don't think so...some corpses have clean cuts...like a sword cut them apart...the others looked mauled...like an animal attacked them..." Saya turns to look at Saeko as she speaks.

"...Wasn't me...not from what i remember at least...and...i definitely didn't do...that" Saeko responds as she points are the mauled corpses.

"Ahh...Saeko...that apron is...ehehe...very naughty..." Takashi speaks up again...causing the group to turn towards him again.

"...Rei...could you please...wake up Takashi...right now" Saeko 'asks' as she keeps staring at the corpses.

"...Ohh...i will more than 'wake him up'" Rei responds as she walks up to him, her eye twitching as she moved closer.

"Ehehe...Saya...you look really cute with your hair down...Ahh...S...shizuka wait, don't be greedy!" As Takashi kept on dreaming...Saeko looked near the cave's entrance.

"There's a toppled gasoline canister there." She says as she walks up to the canister. After she got next to it she lifts it up and gives it a shake.

"Empty" She then looks around...and notices a sign next to the cave...she goes to it and reads it.

"Underwater pass - this cave is connected to the mainland, under construction, please wear a hard hat before entering" After reading the sign she turns to look at the cave only to see that it was actually blocked off by rocks a little deeper in.

'THUD'

And shortly after...a male shout...Saeko turns around to see Takashi up and about, rubbing his head as he stared at the corpses...

"Huh...what...how...wasn't i...why?..." As Takashi keeps asking half-finished questions, Saya walks up to him.

Before he could even respond, he was hopping on one leg, as Saya stomped off after kicking his shin.

"Wh...what was that for!?" He shouts as he looks at her.

"Ohh you know very well what was that for...pervert!" Saya shouts as she turns around and stomps her foot...then turns around again and continues walking...followed by the rest of the group.

"Huh...what did i do ?!" He then turns towards Saeko, who had taken the canister in her free hand and was walking back towards the rest of the group...she stopped...and stayed quiet for a bit...

"...Maybe...you should learn how to dream without talking in your sleep..." Saeko walks past Takashi after giving him a quick glance...

And several minutes later, the group was sitting by the shack's tables.

"...Why i'm not surprised that the only person we're missing is a certain masked idiot..." Saya looked towards the sea as she spoke, her arms folded.

"I just hope he's alright..." Shizuka speaks up right after.

"Good god, not a single day has passed...and he disappears again?...I swear, we need to put a short leash on him" Saya groans as she shakes her head.

"Maybe he wandered off like Takashi?..." Shizuka asks as she puts her finger on her mouth and looks on the table.

"...I'm worried about that too...we found some of them on the island...we don't know if there are more of them wandering around...i will go look for him" Saeko gets up as she finishes speaking...

"We can't just aimlessly wander around the island, we will never find him like that...Is there...a reason Takashi ended up by that cave? Maybe we can use it as a clue for our search?" Kohta responds.

"Actually...What did you do with that gasoline canister?" Asami asks as she turns to Takashi...

"Uhh...gasoline?" He asks as he lifts his head.

"The empty canister that Saeko found near the cave..." Saya adds up.

"I don't remember why i ended up there...and...i...don't remember doing anything with a gasoline canister..." He answers as he tilts his head...seemingly trying to think.

"Yes, you were to busy fondling a group of female them while fantasizing about...things" Rei responds with an angry frown.

"I uhh..."

"We should focus on finding Naier." Saeko cuts off Takashi before he could speak.

"...Yes...we need to find that idiot before he ends up doing something...stupid..." Saya stares at Takashi with a frown as she speaks.

"Alright...i'll check our equipment" Kohta responds as he gets up and walks towards the door.

"...If he's still sleeping...i wonder what he's dreaming about" Shizuka casually asks as she tilts her head, making both Saya and Saeko snap their heads to her and...

-Somewhere-

(...Ughh...why i do i feel like crap...)

I shake my head and i slowly open my eyes.

(...What...happend yesterday?... I feel like i got hit by train...)

I close my eyes and try to think.

(Saya and Saeko...went nuts...and then i...uhh...i...did...what?)

I open my eyes and stare at the sky...

"W..well...for his own good...it better not be something weird!" I hear a female voice...from...under me?

"So...we will split up in teams and look for him?" Another female voice asks.

"We would cover more ground by going alone...but...it won't be as safe" A male voice answers.

I lean to my right to get a better idea of what exactly was going on...and...in retrospect...a bad idea...as...the moment i realized that for some frigging reason...i was on the fucking roof...i was already falling...

"WHA?!" Was the only thing i managed to say before falling face flat on the sand...I also think i heard a couple of yelps?

"Uhh...The...actual...fughh..." I shake my head as i stay on the ground.

"...We found him!" I hear an excited female voice shout.

"Y...yea..." I hear another female voice answer.

"Did he...just fall from the sky?" I hear a different female voice ask.

"...I think he was just on the roof Shizuka..." I hear a male voice answer.

I then felt a hand on my back...

"Naier...are you alright?" I lift my head to see Saeko kneeling next to me...i nod and slowly get up.

"Why...was i on the roof?" I ask as i look up.

"How are we supposed to know that you idiot?" I turn to look at the annoyed voice to see Saya staring at me with a frown.

"True..." I respond.

"Umm...hey guys?" Kohta speaks up as he exits the shack.

"Did anybody use the dynamites?...we're missing some..." He says shortly after.

(Dynamites?)

I look around to see the gasoline canister.

"Uhh...did we bring gasoline with us?" I ask.

"Umm, no...we found it near a cave...That's also where we found Takashi" Saeko answers.

(...Cave...right...the cave)

"You...know something about it?" Saeko, seeing how i didn't respond, asks as she puts her hand on my shoulder and brings her face to my field of vision.

"Yes...I think..." I answer.

"You think?...Don't tell me you also don't remember what you did yesterday...ughh...idiots" Saya brings her hand to her face and shakes her head.

"You...do?" I ask...and her face instantly goes beet red.

"T...that not the point!" She shouts.

"Uhh...but you're the one who asked m..."

"...F...forget it! J...just say if you know what's the deal with that canister already..." She looks away as she speaks.

"Uhh...yea...right. The cave...was it...open? Or caved in?" I ask.

"Caved in" Saeko answers shortly after.

"Then...i think...i blew it up" I awnser...and the group just...stared at me.

"You...think?...That you might have blown up a cave?...And why...would you do that in the first place" Rei asks.

(Fuck...uhh...how do i tell them that it's connected to the mainland?)

"I...don't remember..." I answer as i dart my eyes around.

"The cave was connected to the mainland" Saeko adds up right after, causing everybody to turn to her.

"There was a sign outside the cave that said so...you...don't remember that?" She asks as he turns to me.

"There...was?" I ask as i tilt my head.

(No really now...there was?)

"Huh...you don't remember that either?...that place was full of 'dead' them...you don't remember that too?" Rei asks.

"...It was?" I ask.

(That's weird...that place was supposed to have like...four corpses...not a group...)

"Yes...some of them were torn apart. As if a wild animal attacked them...the others...looked like they got cut down by a sword...and my sword, was not where i left it...actually..." Saeko looks at the ground before looking at the roof and taking a few steps back.

"I'm pretty sure i found my sword in the same location that you fell..." She says as she walks up to me again.

"...Uhh...sorry...still don't remember anything that seems to add up to what you're saying...still, if i did take your sword...then i hope i didn't chip it" I answer as i look at the Katana, Saeko shakes her head.

"The sword is fine...it's you that i'm worried about...are you sure you're alright?" She asks again.

"Uhh...other than falling from the roof?...i feel fine" I answer.

"...So, what you mean to tell me is that...you took Saeko's sword...waltzed towards a cave that was infested with them...obliterated them along with some giant animal...and then you blew up the cave...and...now don't remember anything?" Saya asks shortly after as she raises an eyebrow and tilts her head.

"Uhh...i...guess?" I respond as i shrug questionably.

"...That's it...i'm getting you a collar and a leash..." She says as she closes her eyes, puts her fingers on her nose's bridge and shakes her head...before i could answer...

"You...didn't get bitten...did you?" Takashi asks.

"I think...i would have already turned if i did" I answer.

"True...so...now what?" He asks...and after a short silence.

"This place...weird as it is...is too good to pass up...but...we still have to get to the police station don't we?...I say we keep this place on the map...but go on with the initial plan...return here after we're 'done'...if we don't find a better place...or get evacuated" I answer as i look at the group...

"Hmm...Yea...sounds like a plan...so...lets pack up?" Takashi asks...and the group nods.

(...Uhh...still...why can't i remember...anything...weird...last thing i remember is Saeko and Saya going after me...then...uhh...whatever...if i don't remember...then it's probably not that important, as long as the cave got blown up then it's fine...also...collar? when did the 'tie up to a chair' evolve to 'collar and a leash'...Saya is becoming way too kinky)

...

**Ohh by the way, there will be a poll for this chapter, on the Main/Author/ bio page.**

(Huh?! Who the fuck said that!)


	31. Just call the police

"Alright...so...how do we go about this?..."Takashi asks as he stares at the Humvee that was parked in the garage.

"Well, there ain't a lot of ways we 'can' go about this, we take the car, drive close to the station, park it in a secluded spot and check the place out...police or not, i don't think it's a good idea to march over there with a military-grade vehicle...because i'm a hundred percent sure, that if there are people in that place, we'll lose the car and everything in it. I...don't need to tell you in what kind of a tight spot we'll be in if they do take our stuff...and then decide that our problems ain't worth dealing with..." I respond as i look at the Humvee...and take a bite out of the energy bar that i held in my hand...

(Uhh...I'd rather be eating a normal meal right now...but...no time...I guess we could say that we...ate the fish...which we didn't...as they went bad before we could even bring them here...)

"Yea, you're right..." Takashi nods without saying anything else...and...just keeps staring that car.

A couple of seconds later, Kohta walked into the garage. A first aid kit and a coil of blue synthetic rope in his right hand. Three rolls of duct tape and two rock-climbing hooks in his left hand.

"I checked the boat's small front storage and found these. Makes me wonder if the people that used to live here were into extreme sports" He says as he tries to get a better grip on the items in his left hand.

"Rope and duct tape?...Hmm not bad, that's something we either won't need...or need really badly, throw them in." I point at the open trunk as i look at Kohta.

"You know it's a shame these hooks can't be shot from the crossbow we have...it would look really cool if we could tie a rope around them and use them as grappling hooks..." Kohta chuckles as he moves to the back of the Humvee and starts placing the stuff inside...

"Crossbow?" I ask as i finish eating and lower my headgear...Kohta then pulls a Barnett Wildcat C5 out of the trunk...along with three arrows.

"You know, the one we found in Rika's house..." He answers as he looks at the weapon...

(Wait...we took the crossbow with us?...Holy shit, i totally forgot about it...)

"And...why are we not using it? It should be more silent than any gun...plus...you can get the arrows back...right?" I ask as i stare at the weapon in Kohta's hands.

"Well..yea, but we only have three arrows...and to get more, we also need to find some hot glue to actually attach the arrow points and nocks...and this bow can only shoot twenty-inch carbon or aluminum arrows with half-moon nocks..." Kohta stops for a second and looks at the arrows.

"And...while this crossbow 'is' strong...i don't know if the arrow points we have can do the job...or if we need actual broadheads, as the points we have are 'target points' which are normally used for target practice, not hunting. Now if we do need broadheads...we'll probably need the expandable ones. And then...you also need to know how to 'draw' the crossbow correctly, so it won't end up causing damage to the arrow or it self...also, you must never dry fire it" As Kohta kept talking...he...uhh...started going from 'why we're not using this crossbow'...to...'How to use this crossbow'...and...while i did read a little about crossbows...well.

"...You lost me on...'this is a crossbow'.." I respond with a deadpan voice...Kohta just turns to look at me...and blinks a couple of times...

"Well, take a seat then. " He says as he starts talking...again...

(Well...knowing a thing or two about it...could be helpful)

And so...while Kohta was filling my head with crossbows, arrowheads, arrow points, knocks and stuff can't even fucking pronounce...the rest of the group slowly gathered into the garage...

And...about forty minutes later...

"...You can also find information on how to pull the string in the manual. It was inside the locker next to the crossbow so i took it with me...oh...and the 'handle' is normally called stirrup." And then...he stops talking...to...take a breath.

"Do you want me to explain how..."

"Uhh Kohta, the group is waiting...we should get going." I cut him off as i point at the group...which...also had a visibly annoyed Rei inside...not that i blame her...she doesn't know her father isn't at the station...or...that he's still alive.

"Right...sorry everybody" Kohta gets up, puts the crossbow and arrows back into the trunk, then slams it shut.

"We're all set to go!" He says as he turns towards the group and makes a thumbs-up motion.

And so, after opening the front gate, we all enter the vehicle...and drive off.

(We aren't going to close the gate huh...shame...it was a nice place...oh well)

I turn my head away from the door window that was to my left and look straight ahead, at the backside of the driver's seat...

"Learned how to use a crossbow?" Saeko, who was sitting next to me, leaned her body slightly forward before turning to look at me.

"If having a forty five minute long chat taught me how to use that thing efficiently...then i'd know how to use satellite cannons by now" I say in a joking manner as i also turn to look at her.

"Umm, that...would actually depend...mostly on the interface. If it's user friendly or not...like, how does it navigate? Does it have a joystick? Or it only uses LAT and LONG commands that you need to type in via a keyboard?"...And Kohta, who was once again sitting on the 'leg section' of the car that was behind the front passenger seat and in front of Takashi and Rei, speaks up again.

"Wow...Kohta, how do you know so much!" Asami who was sitting on his legs turns around to look directly at him...

"Ehehe, well..." He then gets all flustered and starts scratching the back of his head. I chuckle, shake my head, and turn to look outside the window again.

(Mister killjoy...heh...)

I put my hand under my chin as i keep staring outside...

(Aright...So, now...We...have the police station, let's focus on that...

Though...the being said, there ain't a lot to think about...or anything that i want to 'change'...we go there...the place is empty, Rei almost has a nervous breakdown while being a total bitch...we get three new guns along with a couple of lower quality handguns and some ammo...we then find about the evacuation...and that Rei's dad is also there...and then...we leave...if...anything else happens...then i'll see to it then...i need to...get used on doing that anyway.)

The rest of the trip was...pretty much uneventful...and quiet, as apparently, nobody could think of a topic to chat about...because...you know...for the others, we were close to finding Rei's father...or what remained of him...so...we all kept quiet.

...Until...

"Gunshots!" Rei shouts as several gunshots echoed in the distance...loud enough to be actually be heard even with the car's engine running...meaning...we were getting close.

(You know...i always wondered...who did fire off these shots?...Corpses with twitching fingers?...It wasn't just one shot though...more like five or six of them...maybe from a gun that was set to fully auto? In any case.)

"If we heard gunshots, then we definitely need to hide the car before we go in there" I turn to look at the group as i speak.

"Huh, why? My dad works as a police detective there, he w..."

"No i agree with Naier on this one, it's not just your dad that will be there...and if a higher ranking officer decides that the car should be taken from us, then we'll be left to go on on foot...and we're not done yet...we still need to find your mother...and my mother" Takashi cuts Rei off before she could finish...yet, she just turns to him and nods without much of a fuss.

"Well...if you're going to do something, then Asami thinks that you should probably do it quickly, the Police station is not very far from here" Asami speaks up right after.

"You were stationed here Asami? But you said that you didn't know my father" Rei asks as she turns to stare at the police girl.

(Huh...is his face in the entry test or something?)

"Ahh, A..Asami was still a new member there...she didn't manage to meet all the people that worked in that station...before...this happened" Her voice trails off as she speaks.

"Well...should i park around here somewhere?" Shizuka asks while keeping her eyes on the road.

"Hmm...i can't see any place where we could hide the car though..." Takashi answers...and sadly...he was right.

(We're surrounded by houses and multistoried buildings...there's...nothing we can use around here to hide the car in...or...wait...)

"What about an alleyway?...If it's narrow enough it can block the doors, then the only entrance...and exit would be the hatch...which...uhh...locksss...form the inside...yea...no...never mind we can't, no wait, we can open the trunk with the keys..."I put my hand under my chin as i speak...and...

"I hope you didn't burn too many brain cells while thinking of all of that..." Saya turns around to look at me from the front passenger seat. A slight smirk on her face.

(Ohh Laugh it up would ya...)

"Uhh...yea...i can't see any other way so...let's try that" Takashi responds.

And so, after Shizuka tried to squeeze the car into a couple of alleyways and ended up trading paint with the wall before realizing that they were way too narrow for the car to pass through...we finally found an alleyway between two multistory buildings that was just bearly wide enough to fit the car in.

"Ok, Like always Shizuka, engine off, let the car roll in until it stops." I say as i look at the wall to my left.

(Well...we're sandwiched between to very high walls...it'll probably be rather dark here even in the middle of the day...except for when then the sun is directly on top of the alleyway that is...still, much better than leaving the car in the middle of the street)

"Are we...really going to leave the car here like this?...I don't know, it seems...risky" Kohta asks. I turn my head to him...only to see that he was actually staring at me...

(Why you say we and then look at me dude, i ain't the frigging leader here)

...Yet...nobody said a thing...

(Oh for fuck's sake)

"Well for good measure, we will also cover it up with the urban net that we used to hide the things in the trunk...that's all we can do for now" I glance at the net behind me as i speak.

And...a couple of seconds later...the car came to a complete stop...

"Ok...we'll exit from the hatch right? Let's go" Takashi moves to exit through the hatch as he speaks...and one by one, we start leaving the car.

Right before getting up, i also grab the net along with Kohta, and once out, we close the hatch and somehow manage to cover the Humvee while half of the group was still standing on it...after making sure that Shizuka didn't forget the keys inside of course...though...now that i think of it...that sounds more like 'my' field of expertise...

I then turn to look towards the direction we came from...i didn't see any corpses...but...

"We go from the way we entered?" I ask as i point at the entrance we used.

"Hmm...well, we can go on from that way...but...if we leave from the other side of this alleyway, the police station should be just around the corner" Asami turns around as she points in the opposite direction.

"As long as we can return the same way, then it works for me" Takashi responds as he jumps down from the car's hood and motions us to follow him.

I just shrugged and followed the rest. Saeko, waited for me to jump off the car, and then starting walking next to me...and... i also noticed something...

(You know, Saya...might have been right...about Saeko staring at me more...and no, that was not a complaint...)

Now, as for the path we took. We did have a couple of corpses that roamed the narrow path, but, they were too spread out. So Rei, who was at the front of the group, dispatched them without any real trouble, seeing that the way she fights consists mostly of forwarding stabbing...meaning the narrow path did not hinder her too much.

It then took us a couple of minutes until we finally exited the alleyway. Asami then pointed towards the right...and...i could actually see a tall building that looked like the police station from the manga not too far from here. It was on the road after the intersection that was to our right, on the opposite side of the street, if taking our current position into consideration...

I could also see cop cars parked there...and one of them...was toppled...or more like, whoever drove that car, ended up making it slide on its right side...before slamming its roof to a railing...I don't know if Rei didn't see the frigging wreck of a car, but...she just dashed ahead of us without saying a word...

"Rei!" Takashi shouts as he runs after her...

"No barikades...no people on guard...and a police car left embedded to a railing...i don't think she's going to like what comes next..." I say as i also start running after the two.

"Naier...you should not interfere...this is something that's between the two of them" I hear Saeko say as she also starts running beside me.

"I got no intention of interfering ...but we should keep the perimeter safe...i get the feeling things might get...loud...shouty type of loud..."...I turn to look at Saeko as i finish speaking...she blinks a couple of times...before nodding.

And...The moment we reached Rei and Takashi...

"W...what's going on! We heard gunshots earlier!" Rei shouts.

(OOOOkkk, here we go, Rei is about to go full bitch mode...Yea, i want nothing to do with this...)

As Takashi starts speaking, i walk past them and head straight towards the building's entrance, the whole field in front of the building was relatively huge and had like...three corpses?...That all roamed towards a shouting Rei...in either case, they were nowhere near the entrance, so i just casually walked up to the half-open sliding glass doors...

(Like in the anime both the inside and the outside doors have been forced open. Enough for a person to squeeze through...still...the insides are clean...clean as in no blood on the floor, as i can still see a lot of papers scattered around...but that's about it, no bullet casings, no broken things...)

"The insides look clear" I nearly jumped in place as i heard a voice to my left. I dart my head to see Saeko right next to me. looking inside the building through the glass door.

(...Holy shit, when did she even...)

She then turns to look at me...and tilts her head with a questioning look.

"Is something the matter Naier?" She asks.

"Nothing, just didn't realize you got here...but yea, you're right, the insides...'do' look clear...i think...we better inform certain people of it...before they end up going berserk..." I motion towards Takashi and Rei with my head as i turn around, Saeko responds with a nod and starts walking behind me, and the moment we got near the group.

"So, i think they all left while we were still at the mall." I hear Saya talk.

"Plus, the insides look clear, no blood, no bullet casings...worse i saw...was papers on the floor" I add up right after her.

(Good thing Saya mentioned that the people here bailed while the group was still at the mall...had she said the island...ohh boy, i'd have one angry ass Rei on my face right now...)

"So everybody is gone?..." Alice asks.

"I don't know, guess there is only one way to find out" Takashi looks at the building's entrance as he speaks.

"let's go then. We got...unwanted guests coming our way" I look around at the oncoming corpses as i speak.

The group nods, and then we all head into the Police station. The moment we got in, Kohta closed the inside doors...though, i don't know if these glass doors can hold back a corpse...tempered or laminated glass maybe?...I then glance around the room.

(Well...looks the same as in the manga on the inside too...

Less than a meter ahead of me, two rows of cozy looking seats that extended towards the wall that was straight ahead, they were also positioned in such a way that made the rows be 'back to back'.

Further in and a slightly to my right...i could see the map...on the wall that faced the exit doors...the corridor that we'd probably end up taking was straight ahead and a bit to my left, that's also where the wall with the map ended...deeper in that corridor, i could also see a toilet sign...that's...where the corpse couple should be at...

Now...To my left...over a small counter-like wall, i could see desks...a lot of them...

To my right...a long counter, that ran all the way from where i'm standing, to the wall with the map that was straight ahead...the counter didn't go all the way from wall to wall through. There were also a couple of big cement pylons that extend from the counter all the way up to the ceiling...and behind the counter...a wall that stopped before actually reaching the 'map wall'...so in other words...there was also another corridor behind the counter, on the far end...i could also see two doors on the wall that was behind the counter...police stations have reception rooms?...huh...got no idea.

And behind me...the doors...a vending machine...and some weird-ass, human-sized mascot.)

"There is actually a little blood on the floor here" Rei speaks up as she kneels down and looks at the floor next to the seats.

"The doors were half-open, meaning 'somebody' opened them after the E.M.P. blast...could be the police officers who left the building...but i'd expect the doors to be left wide open if that was the case...so...sombody came in after they all left?" I look towards the map as i speak.

"Asami you know where they keep any of the ammo and guns here?" Kohta asks as he walks away from the door and stops next to the cop girl that was looking at the giant, pink, humanoid mouse mascot that stood next to the door.

"Umm...Asami only knows that they kept the confiscated items on the third floor..." She lowers her head as she speaks.

"Hmm...we should keep our eyes open then, while we have ammo in the Humvee, it won't hurt to have more, so let's look for any guns and ammo...then, we'll look for clues about Rei's Dad" Takashi then turns to Saya.

"Anything else we should keep in mind?" And while he was asking that, i went to look at the map.

(Hey, Derp-two, how do we hide something?...I don't know Derp-one...let's start...by not putting a name on it...after we have first named everything else of course...

I mean...that's what i'm looking at here...the only room that's left blank...is the armory)

"Can't you think for your self?" Saya frowns as she folds her arms.

"Well, a leader usually has people to help him strategize...right?" He says with an awkward laugh...Saya frowns but doesn't speak up...

She then walks up to me...or well...comes to look at the map...while in the meantime, i turn around to leave.

"Hey, you're already here, don't be an idiot and make your self useful." She says as she turns to me and puts her hands on her hips, while also leaning her upper body slightly forward.

"Uhh...i'd really want to...but uhhh...burnt too many brain-cells...me no can think" I respond with a deadpan voice...Saya narrows her eyes and glares at me...with...quite the mean-ass frown if i might add...

(That's...one angry hamster...she really doesn't like getting side jabbed ehh?...Ahh well, i 'should' help her, lest she starts thinking that i'm actually trying to avoid her...as i get the feeling that giving her the cold shoulder treatment...won't end well...as she'll probably end up being even more toxic to me.)

I turn to the map and point at it.

"There's one room in the back left side that has no information on it, if it's something that the Police don't want others to see, then it might be something worth looking at" I turn to Saya as i finish speaking.

"See, was not that hard now was it?" She says as she corrects her posture, folds her arms and smirks at me...I just...shake my head and turn to look at the group.

"Back room towards the left then?" Takashi asks, Both Saya and i nod.

"...Asami feels so useless...this was the building she was stationed, yet she can't even help" Asami drops her head as Kohta puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Asami...Hirano, Naier, can you keep an eye out while we look for the room?" Takashi then motions for Rei and Saeko to follow him...Saeko..gave me a quick glance before following the other two.

(Hey?! Where are you taking my samurai!?)

And...the moment they got near the toilets...Takashi and the two girls...found the 'corpsified' couple, as it crawled outside, attracted to the noise...i...don't need to mention how fast they got rid of them do i?...I almost felt bad for these two...

And shortly after that, they found the door. Then called for the rest of the group to come over...and...like in the manga, the door was locked with a Numpad lock...Rei then asked if Asami knew the passcode...only for Kohta to mention that the lock didn't function anymore because of the E.M.P...talk about a nice save...and then, Saya pulled out that weird drill thing...and after giving it to Kohta, she then turned to me with her arms folded and a grin like she just saved the world...i think she wanted a head pat...

"What would we do without you?" I respond with a very silent chuckle as Saya kept basking in the glory.

(Well, the truth is...that she did save us, this one might be empty, but the room with the confiscated gear was also locked, and that one...did have ammo and guns inside...anyway the stairs are right behind us...so)

As Kohta keeps drilling, i walk up to Saeko.

"The second floor is near, if there are corpses near the stairs they will hear the drilling..." I stare at the stairs as i speak, Saeko glances at me and nods before turning to look at the stairs as well...

And so, while Kohta was trying to open the door...i just...stared...around...

Until...

"AHH...finally..." Kohta leans back and puts his hands on the floor behind his back, then he takes a few deep breaths...yet, before he could say anything else.

"Naier!" I hear Saeko shout, i turn around to see a corpse on the stairs.

"T..thats Officer Kato..." Rei freezes the moment she sees the corpse.

"Looks like he was trying to commit suicide after getting bit" Saeko runs up the steps as she speaks, and stabs the officer in the head. At the same moment, a second corpse became visible as it shambled down from the upper floor. I let go of the shotgun, pull the bokken, and run up the stairs.

(Guess it's about time i did something)

I stop on the last step and hit the hilt of the sword on the metal handrail, causing the corpse to focus on me...

I then 'stab' its leg while holding the bokken with my left hand and grab its shirt with my right. Crouching down, i then pull my right arm under the top part of the handrail. The corpse, while it did manage to grab my right arm, ended up landing with its neck against the railing. I then turn to look at Saeko...she...licked her lips with a slight smirk as she raised her sword over her head with both arms, only to bring it down a second later, chopping the corpse's head off like an executioner.

"Go look inside! Me and Naier can hold them off!" Saeko shouts as she glances at the group that was by the door.

And...the moment they disappeared into the room...she turns to look at the decapitated corpse, her chest visibly moving as she took deep breaths...and her face...visibly as flushed...

(Oh boy...is she?...)

"That was...way more exciting than i...expected it to be..." She closes her eyes and lifts her head to 'look' at the ceiling. Taking deeper, and slower breaths...until she finally calmed down.

"I am...sorry...but...could I hope that...you won't mind helping me...fight like this some times...i..." She turns to stare at me as she speaks. I...just put my hand on her head and ruffle her hair without speaking...she in turn, closes her eyes and giggles with a smile as her head swayed lightly from side to side...

(...I'm seriously...getting cuteness overload right now...)

And just then.

"Arrghh! Of course! The police got deployed throughout the city! Of course, they would take their guns and ammo with them! Why didn't i realize this sooner!" I hear Saya shout from inside the room.

"We're done then! Saya! Where should we go to find information on where the police force went!" Takashi shouts right after.

"Ahh! Wait! Can we check the room Asami mentioned! The confiscated items are not owned by the Police, they should still be there!" Kohta shouts right after.

"Right! Third floor!" Takashi bolts out of the room and turns to look at us as he runs up the stairs.

"We..."

"Third floor, confiscated equipment. You guys were shouting so loud i would probably hear you all the way from the frigging Humvee" I respond as i put my finger over my mouth in a 'silence' motion...Takashi's eyes then go wide.

"Oh, crap...right..." He shakes his head and turns to the group.

"Kohta, don't forget the drill. Naier, Saeko can you guard the rear? Me and Rei will go up front" He says as he turns to us, and we both nod.

And like that, we went up to the second floor and then to the third...Takashi then told us to wait at the stairs, while he looked at the hallway up ahead...and after a couple of seconds.

"Not too many here, let's go." Takashi motions us with his hand as he keeps looking at the hallway.

(The riot gear dude should be around here)

I kept my eyes to my right as the group started running down the hallway...until finally, i saw a corpse that was inside a room, a little further off from the doorframe, a silenced MP5 hanging on its side as it slowly moved towards us.

(Found ya)

I lightly tap Saeko on the shoulder, and the moment she turns to me, i point at the corpse...she looks at it...and nods.

"Takashi, what we need is weapons right?" She asks.

"Right." Takashi responds.

"Then, these...should do!" She slides in front of the armed corpse before turning her back to it, then passes the blade right through its head.

(...They're...black...uhh...Three, two, one )

"YAAHOOO!" Kohta pretty much leaps on the fallen corpse as he shouts, with Saeko bearly managing to slide aside.

I then also walk up to the corpse...kneel down and look at it...

(He...is bigger than me...damn...different size...well...there was the part that the gear he had might have been infected...especially the helmet, gloves and vest...both the helmet and the gloves have been in contact with the dead body for god knows how long...and the vest...is smeared with blood that dripped from its mouth, so yea...that one is definitely not worth the risk...shame i can't take the helmet and vest...but even if i could...they're too big for me...the leg and arm guards 'should' be fine to take...but...uhh...too big)

As i look at the corpse, i notice the handgun and the leg holster.

( Beretta M92 Vertec...preety sleek gun...or well, i think it looks nice...that don't mean that the P220 i got looks bad but...uhh...i like this design more...still, both this and the MP5 use 9x19mm's...and thankfully we have plenty of that...as one of the crates we took is full of em...in either case... let's see if Saeko will turn me down again)

I grab the handgun and take the holster off the corpse's leg, then take the extra two magazines that Kohta had already taken off the corpse along with their holster. Then i get up, and go to Saeko...she glances at the gun...before turning to stare at me without saying anything.

"Not getting out of it this time i'm afraid, we have extra guns." I put the gun in the holster and toss it slightly into the air before grabbing it again...Saeko smiles...and closes her eyes before letting the air out of her lungs. She then opens her eyes and looks at me.

"You'll teach me how to use it?" She 'asks'...

Well, the answer is pretty obvious...yet...right before i could awnser...i notice...right from the corner of my eye...that Saya was staring at the ground with a frown...or more like...she was staring at the gun in her hand...before 'hiding' it behind her back and turning to look outside the window...I turn to look back at Saeko to see that she was also looking towards the direction i was looking at a second ago.

(Did i turn my head?)

"Of course, just come to me or Kohta whenever you need help." As i answer Saeko turns to me and nods with a smile. She takes the gun with the holster along with the magazines...and...looks at them.

"So...where do i...put these?" She asks as she tilts her head.

"Well, they are both leg holsters, so gun on one leg, magazine on the other...Now...the corpse 'is' wearing pants...and the holster doesn't have any blood on it...but...you know...just to be safe...see if you can clean it up a bit first..." Saeko nods as she keeps looking at the gun.

"Ahh i found it! The door is right here!" Asami shouts as she waves at us from the end of the hallway...

"Great!" Kohta shouts as he, along with the rest of the group, start running towards Asami.

"Ohh for crab's sake...do they always have to shout?..." I groan as i turn to look at the group...and...i hear Saeko giggle...i turn to look at her and...

"I...just said that out loud didn't i..." ...she nods.

"Go on, i will wear these...and catch up to you." She says as she places the holster on her leg and turns to look at it. I nod and turn around.

(Helping her train on how to use a gun...uhh...yea...no pressure...)

I then focus on Saya...

(And then we have her...she obviously 'can't' use her gun efficiently...hell i've never even seen her shoot it...other than that one time in the estate, when i was stuck on the car...and she didn't seem to fare very well then either...plus when Kohta tried to instruct her...she went ballistic...and...judging from the reaction she had when Saeko asked me to help her...she seems to understand that she doesn't know to how to use it...)

And...as i kept walking towards the group, the door to the confiscated items...opened wide.

(Holy shit, Kohta is fast with that drill...)

The group then went inside and disappeared into the relatively dark room. By the time i got in, Takashi was holding the Benelli M4 in his hands.

"Ohhh Naier, Naier, Naier! You will never believe what we found in here!" Kohta almost rips the gun out of Takashi's hands runs up to me.

"It's a..."

"Shotgun" I replied with a deadpan face...

"No! It's a frigging Benelli M4, and now it's yours!" He pretty much shoves the gun into my face as he keeps shouting...

"You know...i would normally say that we should stick to pump-action...less automated parts, less chance for something to get stuck, broken or jammed...but I've heard that this certain shotgun is pretty good, considering durability and shot count" As i speak Kohta puts his hand under his chin and grins.

"And you heard right, this baby has been tested to shoot up to twenty-five thousand rounds without having any major malfunction! And there's more! This one has a tube extension too! So it can hold up to seven rounds plus one in the chamber! That's more than the normal tube even after you ghost load it! And it also has a door breach choke that you can use to stab stuff with!" Yea...kohta was drolling...but...well...

"Black 'is' my favorite color...so...yea...Takashi, want the Ithaca? Or you'll be going with that aluminum bat until you club everything to death? Also...Kohta...won't stabbing stuff with the gun's muzzle cause the blood and guts to run down into the gun's barrel? Especially if it's pointed upwards and there's a way for the excess air in the barrel to escape..." I undo the sling and give the pump-action shotgun to Kohta...then start fixing the new gun on me.

"Hmm, i guess, it 'can' happen...this gun does have a corrosion-resistant finish...but...well...you know your guns! So stab based on circumstance!" Kohta turns around as he speaks and runs towards Takashi.

"Uhh, I don't even know how to use it though..." Takashi responds as Kohta shoves the gun at him.

"Ohhh it's easy! Just aim ,shoot, pump and shoot again! I will show you the stance you need to have and the way to reload and pump correctly, so you don't end up causing damage to the shotgun, or your self" Takashi keeps looking at the gun as Kohta starts speaking.

(Yea, way to dodge the fact that you just told me to stab a bag full of liquid with a spiked hollow tube that can break down if it gets wet inside...heh...anyway...it's...a bit heavier than the old one...but...) I close the retractable stock and let the gun hang on the side.

(Yep, with the stock closed this feels way better, better than the Ithaca at least, as the wooden stock was obviously not retractable.)

As i lift my head, is see Takashi nodding and lifting the shotgun, then pointing it straight...and straight was...

(OH HOLY FRIGGING SHIT !) I jump to the side and fall face flat on a couple of boxes, behind one of the storage shelves...right next to Saya.

"YIAAA!" ...I lift my head...to see Saya with both hands slightly over her head, her eyes as wide as they could be as she stared at me...

"Ahh! Never point your gun at somebody you are not trying to kill! Not even for fun! Not even if it's empty!" Kohta shouts.

"Well, that gun is definitely NOT empty...uhh...at least the safety was still on when i gave you that thing..." I respond as i get up.

"Uhh, Sor..."

"What happened?!" Before Takashi could finish, Saeko bursts in the room with her sword drawn.

"Nothing, Takashi is just...learning how to use his new gun..." I respond as i dust my self off.

"If it was 'nothing' then why did you just jump like that you crazy stupid idiot?! " Saya, with her face completely red, leans her upper body forward and throws her arms back as she stomps her foot to the ground.

"So...you'd rather see me getting blasted by a shotgun at point-blank?...Mean...i didn't know you hated me that much" I respond with a slight grin.

"T...that's not what i said you frigging idiot...ughh...i nearly had a heart attack because of you!" She then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

"...Sorry, didn't mean to scare you Saya...but...yea...Takashi, never point a gun at somebody you don't want dead." I take a step back and turn to look at Takashi. He nods as he looks at the now lowered gun.

"Well...at least nobody got hurt" Saeko responds.

"Ye...aaa..." Takashi lifts his head to look at Saeko and freezes...followed shortly after by Kohta...who seconds later...had a trail of blood running down his nose...

(Maybe i should try the Benelli...on them...)

Saeko looks at the guys...and tilts her head...then turns her whole body around to look at me, the gun strapped on one thigh and the magazines strapped on the other...

"Is...something wrong?...Did...i wear it wrong?" Saeko moves her leg slightly to the side and touches the ground with the tip of her boot as she turns to look at the gun on her thigh, revealing more of the holster and well...more of her leg...

Before i could speak...or much less get a good look...i found my self unable to see...as...somebody ended up covering my eyes?

"Ahhh! S...Saeko what exactly do you think you're doing?!" I hear Saya shout right next to my ear.

(Did she...seriously just cover my eyes? Uhh...whatever...)

"Does it bother you when you move?" I ask as i fold my arms and then lift one arm to the high of my chin before pointing one finger to the ceiling.

"Umm...no" I hear Saeko answer...her voice sounded...forced...like she was holding her self back from...laughing...

"Does it...move out of place when you move?" I ask as i point a second finger to the ceiling, my eyes still covered by Saya's hands...

"...no..." I hear Saeko answer in a slightly lower tone...

"Can you reach it without completely stretching your arm?" I ask and point a third finger up.

"Y...Yes" She answers.

"Then...you're all good...so...uhh..." I trail off as lower my arm.

"Saya...question...why do your hands smell like strawberries?" And the moment i asked that...

"Wha?!...What are you sniffing at you pervert?!" Saya pulls both hands from my mask.

"You kind of had one of your hands over my nose" I answer as i turn to look at her. She was leaning backward, both hands folded and over her chest as she glared at me with a frown...her face...still red...

"That doesn't mean that you can just go ahead and take a sniff you weirdo!" Saya then shoves one hand in her short's pocket before pulling it back up in order to throw a small plastic tube at me...

The items bounces off my mask. Yet, i managed to catch it before it could actually fall to the ground...then...i looked at it.

"Strawberry hand cream...holy crap, my sense of smell is actually better than i thought" I say as i nod to my self.

"Aaaa...give..."

"Wow Saya! Your hands do smell amazing! Can i have some of that cream please!" Shizuka...was already next to Saya, sniffing her hands.

"Really?! I want some too!" Asami was the second one to creep up next to her...only to then be followed by a giggling Alice...who...i think she just wanted in on the hype, as she was just waving a flashlight around.

Rei...didn't join in...and i think she looked a bit...annoyed?...But...she didn't react, Takashi went to her and whispered something, she turned to him and reluctantly nodded...well...she is here to look for her dad...and the group is goofing off...so i sort of understand...but it's moments like these that...how to say it...take off the edge.

"Arghh! Fine, fine! Just stop sniffing my hands already you weirdos!" Saya shouts as she runs up to me...then goes behind me and starts pushing me...

"You started this! You fix it!" She shouts as she keeps pushing.

"Uhh...ok...here's the hand cream..." I say as toss the tube to Asami.

"Thanks!" She responds with a giggle.

"Asami! Don't use it all by your self! I want some too!" Shizuka whines as she leans on Asami while trying to reach for the tube...

"Whatever happens from here...ain't my fault...Still, if i knew that half the group would go nuts over hand cream, i wouldn't have mentioned it, i'll get you another one when i get the chance" I say as i turn around and look at Saya...she lifts her head and looks at me with a perplexed expression...

"...You...really are an idiot..." She folds her arms and turns to 'look' at the boxes next to her...i chuckle...and walk outside of the room...

The moment i got out, i noticed that Saeko was also outside, leaning her back against the wall that was to my right.

"Uhh...nothing popped up? It got a bit...noisy in there for a sec" I ask as i look around.

"No, the second floor seems to be empty..." Saeko replies as she shakes her head and turns to look at me.

"I see..." I nod as i walk past her and then lean my back on the wall, next to her.

"You sure you don't want any of that hand cream? The other seems to have gone crazy about it" I turn to look at her as i ask.

"...You...like the scent of strawberries?" She tilts her head slightly as she asks.

(Is she always going to return my questions with whether 'i' like it or not now?...heh)

"I'm indifferent..." I say with slight a shrug...Saeko just nodded without replying.

We...then spent the next couple of minutes in silence as the group inside made...'noise'...Until Takashi walked out the door and turned to look at the two of us.

"Ready to keep going?" I ask as i fold my arms.

"Yea, Kohta gathered all the ammo and extra handguns guns in his bag, we're heading to the top floor now, communications office, for any information we can find."

I kick my self off the wall and nod.

And shortly after, we were on the move again.

(...Find the computer...go to the neighborhood where Rei lived, find Rei's mother...and then...then...)

Then the real fight begins.


	32. No more hand-holding

"Clear!..."

"...Oh, for crab's sake...did you really have to shout it out loud?" I dart my head around before turning to look at Kohta while he was peeking inside the communications room, the MP5 in his hands...If you're wondering what happened to the AR-10...well let's just say that Asami looked...funny right now...and from the way she was holding her big new gun...i'd say that she's rather afraid of it...

"Uhh...sorry...it's just that...i always wanted to say that..." He responds with a meek grin as he turns to me...

"Well, i can't see any them coming from behind...maybe we cleared out the station? Still, don't let your guard down" Saya speaks up right after.

(True, we did kill most of the corpses while coming up here...but still...)

"In either case, we should check inside for any information" Takashi points at the open door that led into the communications room.

The group nodded and moved inside...and the first thing everybody noticed was that...

"Everything is off...the equipment here wasn't emp resistant..." Takashi sighs as he looks around, glancing at the computers that stretched across the room in three long rows. With the first row being next to us and the third row being the furthest away, on the other side of the room.

(Not that surprising really...even the army can't fully EMP-proof their installations...the police...really didn't have much of a chance.)

"Hey, that computer is still working..." Alice speaks up as she points at the only functioning screen in the third row and Saya instantly runs towards that computer...

"It's...the J-alert system! It's still working!" Saya shouts the moment she looks at the screen...

(Ok...what's with all the shouting?)

"J-What?" Takashi asks...and Kohta...starts explaining what the J-alert system is with an excited voice...and by excited...i mean loud. But his explanation did cause the group to gather around the working computer...well...other than me and Saeko, i stayed by the first 'row' of desks...Saeko...she...

"How come it's still running?...Did somebody fix a nearby powerplant?" She asks as she pulls a tissue out of the small tissue box that was left on a table in the first row...then walks up to me...and...starts poking my mask with the tissue...

"Uhh...what gives?" I ask in a low tone as i stare at a smiling Saeko...

"Inconceivable!" Saya shouts as she starts to feverishly type on the keyboard.

"You had some blood on your mask..." Saeko responds as she tilts her head slightly.

"And no, i think it's running on backup battery power...it must be on alert mode, that's probably why it lasted so long too" Saya answers as she keeps looking at the screen.

"Ohh, like they have in hospitals" Shizuka responds...

(...Funny how everybody is too busy staring at the screen to even notice Saeko...she...never did do something like this in the manga...did she?...Come to think of it. She does seem a bit more...uhh...how to name it...affectionate?...Compared to how she acted with Takashi...)

Saeko then lowers her hand, walks to a nearby bin and tosses the tissue. And then...silence...the only sound being heard, was that of keyboard buttons being tapped...

A couple of minutes passed like that...with nobody saying a thing...until...

"Do you know what you're doing?" Rei asks while sitting on a table, resting her cheek on her hand.

"This was designed to be simple enough for even a kid to use!...but ARGHHH!" Saya stops typing and grabs the corners of the screen with her hands as she shouts...

"What's wrong? Takashi asks.

"...I...can't find the search function..." Saya responds in a low tone as she turns around and lowers her head slightly...all the while...i stared at Alice as she sneaked up to the computer and pushed a random button on the keyboard...

(Alice roll's luck...)

Saya glances at Alice before turning back to Takashi...then snaps her head back at her.

"W...what are you doing you stupid munchkin!" She shouts...again...

(Seriously...Let's just just rename this place into the shout room, ya?...)

"S...sorry...i couldn't help it" Alice apologizes with tears in her eyes as she lowers her head. Takashi then closed his eyes and nodded with a serious expression...to the point...that you'd think that he was actually thinking of something important...

Saya then turns her head towards the screen with a heavy sigh.

"Seriously, can't i take my...Wha..." And freezes as she keeps staring at the screen...that now showed the evacuation plans...

(And Alice rolls critical on the first roll, critical on the second roll and critical on the third roll...The static electricity in Alice's hand short wires the computer, causing it to acquire self-awareness and search itself...)

"This...Nice going munchkin!" Saya...shouts as she keeps looking at the computer...

(I will check outside...just in case)

I walk out of the room and take a look around as the group kept talking.

(Yet, no corpses...did we really clear this place out?)

"Is something wrong?" I didn't even manage to turn around in order to return into the room...and Saeko was already behind me.

(Uhhh...is she...following me around?... She crept up behind me when i was by the building's front door too...huh...)

"We're being too loud, i needed to make sure that we didn't attract any attention" I answer as i glance around...she just nodded and turned to look at the stairs...

Me and Saeko then stayed outside for a couple of seconds...until..

"Still...evacuation...not backup?" Takashi asks as he stops by the door's frame.

"You have seen how bad things are here...they are probably trying to focus on getting survivors to safety first" Saya responds as she exits the room and starts going towards the stairs.

"The plan is to go there then" Takashi responds as he begins walking behind her.

"Yes, but we need to hurry, the extraction will only last for a couple of hours in the early afternoon...tomorrow" Saya answers as she stops walking and turns to look at him.

(Wait...early afternoon?...in the manga it was 'just' afternoon...)

"And...where it's happening? " Takashi asks as he walks past her and stops by the stairs.

"Shintoko third elementary school" Saya's voice became more...serious... and both Rei and Takashi tensed up the moment they heard the location...and while the group kept talking, i pulled the watch out of my pocket.

(...It's five and forty...we have less than half a day...and i'm not counting the night...while we did leave the estate in the middle of the night...i really don't think that it's a smart idea to go off driving in pitch black darkness...The corpses are already blind, so they won't be affected by the lack of light...and...the headlights will make us shine like a lighthouse for the ones that 'can' see...and i don't know what's worse between the two. Both can...)

"Hey hold on! And what about my parents!" Rei's loud shout knocks me out of my thoughts.

(Huh, wait we reached this part already?...uhh...ok...)

"The initial reason we came here, was to look for Rei's dad, so...let's go do what we came for?" I turn to Takashi as i 'ask'...He nods and puts his hand on Rei's shoulder, who was already next to him by the stairs.

"Of course, your dad comes first, do you know where his office is?" Takashi asks...and Reis's face instantly lights up as she nods.

"Y...yes! Follow me, it's on the second floor!" She shouts. And so, we followed Rei as she ran down the stairs to the second floor and then started sprinting through the hallways.

(...And all caution went out of the window...)

"There, it's that room!" She shouts as she points at a door that had a sign that wrote 'public safety division' on it...and...

"Dad!" She shouts as she bursts through the door...

(...Screaming out the top of your lungs as you smash into an unchecked, closed room? In the middle of a frigging zombie apocalypse?...Seriously...What the fuck?...)

Still, i kept that though to my self...as...well...

"There's...nobody here..." Rei's lively attitude instantly plummeted to a negative degree...and the whole group just...stared at the empty room...

(And the whole atmosphere just went to shit...)

I glance at the whiteboard...and notice...that i could actually read the backside from where i was standing...or...you know, see the letters, as they were upside down.

(Ohh...perfect...let's skip this whole shindig, no?...)

I slightly nod to my self and start walking towards the whiteboard...

"Naier...can you and Saeko keep an eye out?" Takashi grabs my arm as i walk past him...

(...oh Jeez)

"There's something written on that whiteboard" As i say that, Rei turns her head to me. Takashi just raises an eyebrow and tilts his head...then lets go of my arm.

I walk over to the whiteboard...flip it...and Rei instantly shouts that this was her dad's handwriting...

"How did you even...do you have x-ray vision or something?" Kohta asks as he stares at the whiteboard...

"Nah, it was visible from where i was standing, no such thing as superpowers i'm afraid" I answer as i tilt my head.

(Well, that was a lie...but...my 'superpower' is about to expire anyway.)

And the group turned lively once again...well...all but one. Saya still looked extra grumpy. Her arms folded and her head turned towards the window that was next to her...

(I'll take my two cookies and say that the reason she is like this, is because of the gun thing...well...let's see...)

I walk up to Saya as she kept staring outside...up to the point...that i was actually next to her.

"Why so glum?" I ask. Saya jerks her shoulders and darts her head to me...and just...stares.

(Wow, she's really out of it...)

"...It's nothing..." She responds as she turns her head back towards the window.

I just fold my arms and keep staring at her...Saya glanced at me a couple of times...until she let out a sigh.

"I...hate feeling useless." She finally speaks up in a low tone as she draws her Luger.

"The only time i used this, i could not even shoot correctly...and if i'll have to shoot a second time...I know i won't do any better!" She raises her voice as she turns to me.

"Y...you said to Saeko, that if she needed help with her gun, she could come to you. W...well i also need help with my gun!...Or was your offer only aimed towards her?" She extends her arm towards me and 'shows' me the gun.

(Called it)

"I'm pretty sure i said me...or Kohta...but...uhh...can i look at the gun for a bit? " I ask as i point at the Luger...Saya blinks a few times before she reluctantly hands it over.

"I'm going to kill you if you break it" She says as she keeps staring at the handgun...i didn't respond...i just 'aimed' the gun as i placed its stock against my shoulder.

(Hmm...while the gun's detachable stock does make it easier to aim...it still is a bit...weird to handle...)

I then take off the drum magazine as i keep the gun aimed...all the while, Saya just stared at me.

(...The drum also seems to add some noticeable weight...wonder if it's full or not...that should be...thirty-two rounds?...In either case...i think Kohta's decision was the right one.

While the luger is about...what?...Less than a kilo with no mag inside? And the Mp5 can be between two to three depending on the model, it's still wielded with both hands...so it should be easier to handle. I should also check its sight...even with the dot dead...it might be able to still act as a zooming lens...the silencer should also make the gun more 'forgiving'...As for the recoil, can't really tell. but both guns use the same ammo type so...)

"Hey what are y..."

"Kohta...the MP5 we have uses 9mm's?" I ask as i turn to him...he looks at me and nods.

"I think Saya should have it, her luger ain't exactly...easy to use...The MP5 can be used with both hands, and as it uses the same type of ammo, the recoil can't be that much worse" I start walking towards him before giving Saya one last glance...and she...was looking anywhere but here.

"Well...yea...but i gave the Ar-10 to Asami, we don't have any other long-range weapons left, as the M1A1 is used by Rei" He answers as he turns to look at Asami.

(...Yea that...has been bothering me for some time now...and...while i'm NOT going to ask why Rei is using a frigging long-range gun as a stabbing pole...i really should keep it in the 'why the crap?' section. Especially now that we have a person that can use it as a for what it really is...a frigging gun)

"AAA...K...Kohta...y...you can have the gun. A...Asami feels anxious just holding a gun like this. she's...used to her handgun..." Asami runs up to Kohta and extends the rifle to him...

"...But...i wanted us to snipe together..." I hear him respond in a low tone as he keeps looking at her...

"A...Asami...likes it more when you use this gun...it makes you look...cool"...Less than two seconds later...i was holding the MP5 along with its sling...

Asami breathed a sigh of relief the moment the gun got off her hands. she then turned to me and nodded with a smile, before turning back to Kohta.

(Or...we don't have a person that can use Rei's gun. Asami...knows how to get what she wants...or in this matter...how to get rid of what she doesn't...)

With that...i walk back to Saya and hand her both the MP5 and the Luger.

"It's heavier, but should be easier to use...the sight might be dead, but check if it can act as a zoom lens...it uses the same ammo type as the Luger, so you can actually change bullets from one gun to another...now the thing has a suppressor...but don't expect the gun to be muted, it doesn't work like that. It will still sound like a dinner bell for the corpses...and uhh...that about it...i think..." I fold my arms as i speak. Saya just kept looking at new the gun...and then...i take a couple of steps back...

(Just in case mister 'wild slap' appears...not for me though...if Saya slaps my mask, she will blame me for her aching hand later...)

"I'll show you some of the technical stuff, once we're not running around" As i finish, i turn around and look the group...Takashi nods, and starts talking. While i walked towards the exit. I stopped by the door's frame and looked outside...

(Well...that went...fine)

Behind me, i could hear Takashi talking about our plan. which was going to where Rei lived to find her mother before heading towards the school...and then, i felt a hand on my shoulder.

"...These...technical stuff you mentioned...can i expect, that it'll be you that'll show them to me?"...Turning around, i see Saeko looking at me.

"And...i also never used a gun before. The lesson...i would rather it be with one teacher...and one student." Saeko kept her eyes locked to my face...and even with my mask on...i could honestly feel her staring at me...i...just nodded. Not much else i could do in this situation to be honest...as she already knows how i feel about Saya...and her wording was...way too precise.

"AAAHH !WHOA WHOA!" And Takashi starts shouting...i turn around to see him flailing his leg as Zeke was with one leg lifted in the air right under him...and the group then bursts into laughter...

"Oh man...that was lame..." Takashi groans...

"So...back into the car and on to Rei's neighborhood?" I ask while the group was getting back its bearings.

"Yea..." Takashi responds.

"My house...is actually not very far from here, with the car it should be less than five minutes away" Rei adds right after him. With that, we start heading towards the exit...

"Ohh...one more thing Takashi..." He turns around to look at me as i call his name...

"You ain't getting into the car with them smelly pants..." I fold my arms as i speak.

"Bad Zeke! Now Takashi will have to run behind the car!" Alice 'scolds' the dog...who...uhh...just started liking her pointed finger...

"Yep, you're not getting inside the car if you'll make it stink, it has horrible ventilation!" Saya adds up right after.

"Uhh...we...have extra pants, i'll just change into one of them" Takashi responds.

(We?...You mean the clothes 'i' gathered in the estate...huh)

And so, we headed back towards the car. Thankfully, with no trouble following us. Once there, we took off the net, unlocked the trunk and got inside...well, more like Alice went inside and unlocked the hatch for the rest of us...as Shizuka...could bearly fit through the trunk with how tight of a squeeze it was because of her...assets...then all of us got in...well, all of us but Takashi...for him...i just grabbed a pair of black trousers that i didn't have any side pockets and tossed them towards him...i wasn't about to give him the best pants i had, thank you very much...

(Wish i had a pair of pink spandex to give him)

I found my self chuckling as Takashi closed the trunk in order to change.

"...What's so funny?" Saya, who was sitting next to me, asked.

"Nothing..." I respond, She narrows her eyes, frowns, folds her arms...and keeps staring.

The reason Saya was on the back, was because Rei was in the front seat now, that way she could show Shizuka where to go...

(I'm actually surprised that Saya's willing to sit on the center of the Humvee...seeing as it has no seats)

"Uhh. What do i do with the old pants?" I hear Takashi ask as his head pops through the hatch.

"Throw them...the whole reason you changed was so they would not end up inside the car to begin with" Saya turns to look at Takashi as she speaks, he nods and tosses the pants behind the car. He then climbs inside and sits next to Saeko, who was next to Saya...Kohta and Asami were in there usual...'spot'...that being the leg section on Takashi's seat. Alice was in the front on Rei's lap.

And like that, Shizuka turned on the car and drove off while following Rei's directions...

"By the way...how are we going on fuel?" I ask as i look behind me at the jerry cans.

"Umm...the car was refueled in the estate...i have yet to refill it...and the fuel indicator has moved to about the...uhh...third-fifth?" Shizuka answers.

(Hmm...if i remember correctly...a Humvee needed like five, twenty-liter jerry cans to fill up...and the miles it could go depended a lot on how heavy it was, from two miles...all the way up to twelve. Now, ours is not 'armed'...but i don't know if the armor plating it has is 'standard' for a humvee...)

As i turn around, i notice that Saeko was staring at the open hatch...

"The weather doesn't look too friendly" She speaks up as she keeps looking through the hatch.

"Well we're in the car...we should be fine" Takashi responds.

"Won't we have to exit after we reach our destination though...or...you intend to cannonball the car through the buildings " I tilt my head as i turn to him.

"Pfft..." Saya puts her hand over her mouth as she lowers her head and leans forward.

"Uhh...actually i don't think this car will even fit on the streets we need to take...Takashi, the roads around my house are too narrow...don't you remember that?" Rei turns around from the front seat to look at Takashi as she speaks.

"Uhh...oh...right..." He trails off as he nods...

(...wait...what?...Ohh shit...that ain't good)

"There should be a convenience store on the road ahead. Before it starts getting too narrow...we can park the car there. It has a small alleyway next to it, it worked the first time around...so it should work here too...right?" Rei then turns to me as she asks.

(...What's with everybody turning to me for this crap, I ain't the frigging here leader dammit...)

"Got to see the place first" I answer, Rei nods and turns to look ahead.

And...she was right. It didn't take us too long to actually reach the convenience store after that. We really weren't that far, guess Rei's father had that fabled, work being close to home thing.

"It's here, see" Rei then points at the left part of the street, towards a store that was not too far from us...the store itself was not that tall...about one and a half floors, to its left, an alleyway and next to that alleyway a two-story building...and that's about it...i could not see anything else around to use for cover. As most if not all the buildings around here were apartments.

"Can't see any better cover...uhh...Shizuka..see if you can park the car in reverse, better if we're able to leave fast in case of an emergency...and you know, engine off. Though, parking there in reverse with the engine off might be a bit...impossible...just do what you can " As i speak Shizuka nods and tries to do as i asked.

I then climbed up the hatch until i was completely out and looked around as Shizuka tried to park the car. Luckily...the alleyway was wide enough to fit the Humvee...and...i could actually see what seemed to be another alleyway behind the building...but...well...plainly put, the car was way too fat, it couldn't go back there...now this alleyway was not that long...about the same distance as the store...which must have been...two, two and a half Humvees at maximum...in other words...

"...We're still too exposed...uhh. Let's make sure nothing is trying to creep up on us...then go inside the building...we'll think of a plan in there" I say as i look back into the hatch. The group glanced at each other before Takashi nodded at me.

After the rest exited the vehicle and Shizuka locked it. We went to the front part of the store.

"We attracted some attention...hmm...well, not all that surprising, we're in a residential area after all" There must have been a total of...fifteen corpses? Coming from several directions.

"Where do we go from here?" I ask as i turn to Rei.

"Umm...this way" She points to our left, I nod and turn to run towards the right. Pulling the bokken out of the side straps as i head straight towards a stop sign that was a little further off, on the opposite side of the road.

I switch my hold on the wooden blade to a reverse grip, pull my arm back, and then take a strong swing at the sign it self...to the point that i actually felt the vibration all the way to up my shoulder...

I dart my head around, shake my arm, and move back towards the rest.

The corpses on the 'left side' were not past the group yet...but i could see them moving towards the upper part of the street now...

(They changed direction...good)

After i got back to the group...we just...went back into the alleyway...and watched as the corpses waltzed past us and headed straight towards the sign.

"Is it a good idea to leave them there?...What if we make noise inside the building?...They're way too close" Saya asks in a low tone as she looks at me, occasionally glancing at the corpses...

"Not much else we can do...shooting them will cause more to come, dynamite will get a horde on our face...going close...is too risky with all of them jumbled together like that" I respond.

"Let's see if we can go inside first" Takashi starts walking towards the road as he motions us to follow him.

We turned left and then headed straight to the store's front door...which...was wide open.

The insides also looked, rather untouched and we had a good view too, as the front wall was made of glass that was still intact...a bit weird if you consider that this place has water and non-perishables...even if most of em are in the junk food category...also, i couldn't see any blood or any signs of struggle.

We go inside, close the door behind us and take a better look around.

Most of the building was pretty much a giant room with two big rows of shelves, both filled with items on both sides. All that was in the center and to my right. In the wall ahead, three large 'wall' fridges that still had unopened bottles inside, to my left was a counter with the register and behind it, a metal door, in the store's left wall...to my right, a thick tinted glass wall that led to what i think was a storage room. Next to it, a door with a toilet sign over it. There was also a narrow corridor straight ahead and to my left, that ended with a rather sturdy looking metal door...

"Hmm...this place has waterproof clothing?" I ask.

"Uhh...it's a convenience store you idiot, why would it have clothes?" Saya groans as she turns her head to me.

"...Don't we need waterproof clothing...?" I ask again as i turn to her.

"Ahh...there should be a clothing store next door, to the left...we can go and look there" Rei speaks up.

"Ok...we'll split in half then. Some people will search this place...while the others will go and get some waterproof clothes" Takashi turns towards the group as he speaks.

"I'm going to the clothes store" I raise my hand before anybody else could speak.

"Huh...why do 'you' want to go?" Saya asks as she folds her arms.

"I'd like to buy my own clothes...lest i end up with a pink hoodie...or a jacket with a dog face or something" I respond.

"But...dog hoodies are awesome..." Alice lowers her head slightly as she whines.

"And who would do something so childish anyway?" Saya asks again.

(Other than me?...To be honest...i can totally see you doing it...no way i'm telling her that though)

"Just to be sure" I respond.

"Ok...then..."

"I will go too" Saeko cuts Takashi off.

"Me too" Saya adds shortly after.

"I want to pick something for my self too..." Rei was the next one to speak.

"I..."

"Ok...no more, or we'll all end up going there" Takashi cuts Shizuka off...who instantly pouts and looks away...

With that, me and the three girls headed out and went...to the store next door...like...literally next door. And said door, was also wide open.

We went inside to find the place empty...and untouched. Again, one big room with a couple of wide, short benches on the center. Several rows of clothes that extended from the wall to my right and headed towards the wall to the left, with all rows stopping a little before the center of the store. A lot of clothes were also hanging to my left and the register was also in the far off corner on the left. Straight ahead, were a couple of full-body sided mirrors hanging on the wall. Also, said wall didn't go all way, stopping at about...three fourths in distance from the wall to the right? And behind it, was another room with even more clothes hanging in rows...also...here...was where i found what i was going to...'buy'.

"Ok... let's get what we need...along with some extras for the others so they can choose...that way they can't say that we didn't give em a choice." As i say that the girls nod and spread out...I?...

I went straight to the back...on waterproof trench coat section and...uh...to put it plainly. World war two, German officer trenchcoat...the only difference, was that the collar ended with a hood. Other than that...it looked exactly the same, lapels, buttons, length, everything...also...it was obviously black. It's a shame that its looks might remind some people of the atrocities committed in that era...but...i want the trenchcoat...because i like the trenchcoat, i couldn't care less about that ideology...also, it seemed less...heavy...i suspect that was because it wasn't leather. The fabric was still rather thick though.

I take off my glove and feel the outer texture...

(...Guess it's the same material as the coat that Saeko wore in the manga?...hmm...)

I take off my bag, sling and jacket. Then fasten the sling back on me and wear the trench coat. I also pull the hood up before turning to look towards the mirror to my right.

(...I might not be able to jump over fences with this...but hell i look like a badass...the hood might not be 'big', but it still covers the mask if looking from the side.

Ok...bought, done with mine. Let's get some stuff for the others now...i remember that Takashi, for some reason, didn't wear anything to cover his pants...hmm...ehh whatever, I'll just get a bunch of waterproof jackets and ponchos.)

I leave the trenchcoat unbuttoned, take my jacket along with some more waterproof jackets, fold them and shove them in my bag before throwing it over my shoulder.

(Ok... let's go...)

I give the mirror one last glance and then walk back to the front room. Where the girls were trying out different waterproof clothes...and holy crap...i know i didn't take long...so why there were so many ponchos tossed on the floor...

"Saeko, are you sure you want to wear that?...You'll have to carry around an umbrella as it has no hood and you don't want to wear a hat." Rei looks at Saeko as she speaks, who was already in her own...coat. The same coat she wore in the manga, black with a purple hue in color, two rows of buttons, a belt that was tied to a ribbon around her waist, under that, the coat had four equal cuts on the sides that made it separate into four segments. Forth, back, and sides.

"I already have one" Saeko replies as she opens the Japanese style umbrella she was holding, a deep purple in color from what i could see.

"Hey opening an umbrella inside a building is bad luck you know..." Rei folds her arms as she stares at Saeko, all the while in her own camo poncho.

"Heh...it's almost as if you're trying to...impress...somebody" Saya's eye twitched slightly as she spoke with a forced grin. She was wearing...a bright yellow raincoat, that one didn't have a hood either, so she was also wearing a bright yellow hat.

"Is it that weird, that i want to be presentable?" Saeko closes her eyes and smiles as she folds the umbrella.

"A...anyway, that should be all...let's get ready to return?" Rei asks.

"Y...yea...I'll go get Naier...so much about girls taking too long to dress up. He's taking longer than u..." Saya shakes her head and turns to walk towards my direction...only to end up face to face err...mask with me.

"So we done?" I ask.

"...Y...yea..." Saya responds as she keeps staring at me...her mouth slightly open.

"...You...look like a supervillain now" Rei also ended up staring at me as she kept blinking...

"...Uhh...isn't an overlord in the supervillain category to begin with?" I tilt my head as i ask.

"I think it suits you...perfectly" Saeko...while she spoke in a normal tone with a slight smile...was also staring.

(Ok...this is getting awkward...)

"So...we're...done?...or..."

"Y...yea, let's go" Saya was the first one to 'wake up'. She instantly turned around as she grabbed the tip of her hat and lowered it.

"...Yea...the others...are waiting" Rei was the second one to speak as she started to pick the extra ponchos.

Saeko...just turned to help the other two while giving me an occasional glance.

"You want me to hel..."

"N...no, we can handle it" Saya cuts me off, her back still turned to me...it almost felt like she was...hiding.

And like that, the girls gathered everything and we headed back to the store where the others were waiting. After entering and closing the door behind us.

"We're back." Rei speaks up.

"Ahh welcome back, did you find wha..." And...Takashi freezes...i don't know if he was looking at me...or Saeko...as she was standing next to me...again...

"Bark!" And...a wild Zeke appeared...who with a jump, latched on to my sleeve. I lift my arm to head high and turn my hand until Zeke and i were eye to eye...he...just started wagging his tail as he looked at me.

"Really now minion?" I start poking the dog in its belly until it finally let go of me...He landed next to my boot and then instantly ran back to Alice.

"So...are we going to keep staring at each other?...Or is there anything worthy of mention in this place?" I ask as i turn to Takashi. He shakes his head and then nods.

"Uhh..yea...we found that the shutters in this place can be lowered manually...don't know how noisy that'll get though, so we didn't try to lower them...then the door behind the counter leads to a small room with a computer, a couple of lockers and a cabinet...the computer doesn't work...and" He then turns towards the corridor to the left, the one with the door at the end.

"This door leads to the back alleyway, we can go straight to the car from there...and next to the door, there's a staircase that leads to a giant room that i think was used as storage space, it had a couple of boxes scattered around, but otherwise, it was empty...and dark...there were only a couple of very small windows on one of the walls...and that's about it." He points at the corridor as he speaks before turning back to look at me...and...before i could even answer...

"You brought anything for us to chose?" Shizuka skips past Takashi and looks at us. She folds her arms until they touched her shoulders and bends her knees slightly...

"Uhh yea...i have some in there, the girls have the rest" I toss my bag to her as i speak. She nods as she catches it, then runs up to the girls...and after that...well, we sort of took a small break.

The place was not looted so it had a buttload of food and water...let's just say...i haven't eaten so much junk food in my whole life combined...but hey, better than eating nothing...also apparently...i'm the only person in here that likes sour stuff...as the group looked at me like i was some sort of alien when i decided to eat some vinegar chips...

And so, after Kohta had his...uhh...event...with the condoms...Which, fun fact...i still don't know why Shizuka took them off the counter and started walking around with them in her hand...also another fun fact...Asami did not seem TOO mad about the whole thing. Shizuka then, after we found the net launcher under the counter had her own weird-ass fantasy on how it works...and then, the rest then got dressed for the rain, as it did start raining.

"Alright...so we're ready to go?" Takashi asks as he takes a sip out of the bottled water in his hand, the group responds with a nod.

(...Actually...we're not...leaving the fact that i don't know how this will go after getting Rei's mother. The Humvee is way too exposed...and...the sky is beginning to turn orange...i got no idea how far that school is at...or how long it'll take to find Rei's mom

I know that i always say that Takashi is the leader here...but...i don't like this...i guess...it's time for a temporary...override)

"I don't think all of us should go" I speak up as the group starts to move...they all stop and turn to me.

"Is something bothering you?" Saeko asks as she looks at me.

"Yes, two things. One...is that the Humvee is way too exposed, even if we cover it, the alleyway is too short, way too easy to spot..." I say as i fold my arms.

"And second...We're about to go into your neighborhood...Can you really kill the corpses in there?" I turn to Rei and Takashi as i speak.

"Are you telling us to stay behind? If it came down to it i think we..."

"Actually i'm not telling you to stay behind, i'm preparing you...because you two 'must' go" I cut off Takashi, causing him to freeze.

"...Wha...first you tell us that we might have to kill our relatives if we go...then you tell us that we MUST go? Do you know how this even sounds right now?" Rei glares at me as she folds her arms.

"Yes, i do...but we don't know how your relatives look...and we don't know the area...so, you're the only ones who can...confirm" I respond...and both turn to look at the ground.

"So you two...must go...for better or for worst...that also means that somebody who can fight for more than one person must go" I turn to look at Saeko as i speak, She nods without even blinking. I then to Kohta...who also nods with a serious expression.

"And you are..."

"I'll stay with the Humvee...i'm the only one left among the ones that can go into close range in a fight...Shizuka, Alice, you two also stay" I cut off Takashi as i look at the two girls...i expected Shizuka to start pouting or something...but...she just nodded with a serious expression as she shoved Alice under her chest.

"And what about me?" Saya asks as she stared at me...

(Right...careful wording here...)

"...Saya, Asami...you two can decide whether you want to go or stay, you will be useful both here and there.

"I will go" Asami walks up to Kohta as she speaks.

"...I...guess i'll stay then" Saya responds right after.

"Alright, so we're ready to..."

"No" I cut Takashi off again...causing the group to turn towards me once more.

"Two more things..." I go to my bag, open it...and take out the walkie talkies. Then toss one to Takashi.

"Huh...but...these don't reach very far" He tilts his head as he speaks.

"Open it" I turn on mine as i speak...Takashi nods and does so.

I press on the talk button, the moment i do, the other walkie made a small 'click' sound. I let go of the talk button and then press it two times, the click sound then got heard two times...

"That clicking sound can still be heard even when the radios give off nothing but static, we can use that" I respond as i wave the radio in my hand.

"Uhh...and...how do we?..."

"A way to let others know if there is trouble or not...hmm...One-click represents 'all fine', Two clicks means 'Alert', Three clicks will stand for...'we need back up'...four...will count as...'Do not come looking for us'...and five...will count as 'Reset'...or cancel" ...The group ended up going silent moment i mentioned the 'fourth' click...

"...Do we...need a fourth click..." Shizuka asks as she glances at the group, before turning to look at me.

"Yes...we do" I respond.

"But that obviously doesn't mean that we should strive to use it...we never did...let's keep it that way" I add up...Shizuka looks at the ground before lifting her head to look at me again, she closes her eyes and nods with a smile.

"And one last thing...as these will produce static noise when pressing the talk button...make quick clicks only...the more you have the talk button pressed, the more you endanger the other group...and...uhh...keep the fact that we have a working car under the carpet at all times...as the person you're speaking to, might not be the only one that's actually listening" Takashi nods as he looks at the walkie talkie.

"Any questions?" I ask...

"Uhh...just one..." Takashi turns to look at me...

"Why aren't you the leader again?..." He asks he raises an eyebrow and scratches the back of his head with a slight grin.

"Easy. I'm an overlord, i work behind the lines" I respond as i shrug.

"Supervillain" Rei says with a slight grin.

"Ninja penguin" Shizuka adds up right after.

(...My...'Titles' keep pilling up ehh...)

I just lower my head and shake it before turning to look back at Takashi.

"Oh and...i think we need to lower the shutters...that wall won't last two seconds if somebody...or something...decides that it wants in" I point at the glass wall as i speak.

"Uhh...yea...there's a crank handle inside the room that's behind the counter with the register..." Takashi nods as he points at the metal door.

(Hmm...alright...the rain should mask some of the sound...so it should be fine to lower them)

I nod to my self as i think...

"Well...that's all..." As i say that, the group nods and starts moving again. With me, Saya, Shizuka and Alice staying in place.

"Oh...Naier, As you'll need to lower the shutters from the outside. If you're going to go out with the Benelli...you might want to use a condom..." Kohta speaks up as he points at the small box on the counter.

"K...Kohta!...Wording!" Shizuka, while her lips were still curved up to a smile, is left with her mouth wide open as she starts blushing...and then covers Alice's ears.

"T...that's it! I'm going to kill you fatso!" Saya's face was even redder than Shizuka's as she 'lifted' her sleeve and stomped towards Kohta.

"Huh?!...B..but i explained why we..." Kohta puts his hands in front of him as he starts backing off.

"I don't care! I'm going to strangle you!" ...And...Saya ended up chasing Kohta around the store...I don't think i've ever seen her face being so...red...

"Let's...lower the shutters...all of them...you'll use the back exit..." I keep looking at Saya as i speak...

"Uhh...yea..." Takashi responds as he also keeps looking at the duo...


	33. No more hand-holding pt 2

"After we've searched the surrounding area we'll return. So keep the path to this door secured, or we won't be able to get back inside" Takashi turns around to glance at the alleyway that was through the door he just mentioned.

"Yea...as we can't...use the front entrance anymore..." Rei adds up while looking behind me, towards the main room.

And...she wasn't wrong. After Saya's little...outburst...we barely managed to close the shutters before the store's front sidewalk became a corpse hangout.

"Well...we could draw them away as we leave." Kohta lifts the AR-10 in his arms slightly as he speaks.

"No, it's alright. That metal shutter should be more than enough to hold them back. Plus with Them there, we deter any unwanted visitors who actually 'know' how to get rid of the shutter...and...trying to draw them away, will just block off your own escape route." I respond as i shake my head.

"Yea...that's true...so, well, in that case, we're off...we will use the radios if need be" Takashi nods, turns around and motions the rest to follow him. Them being Saeko, Rei, Kohta and Asami.

"Ohh, and, see if you can barricade the alleyway where we parked the car, we'll handle the other side" Takashi turns around and points to my left before looking at me.

"Already on it" I nod, give Saeko one last glance and close the door, then head inside the store, where the rest of the group was at. In other words, Saya, Alice, and Shizuka.

"Hmm, seems they finally pipped down completely" I say in a low tone as i walk into the room and look at the corpses on the other side of the metal grill shutter.

"Yep...wonder if the rain made them lose interest...they don't seem to want to move though...but at least they also don't seem to be able hear us..." Shizuka, who was sitting on the counter, puts her finger under her chin and tilts her head as she keeps looking at the corpses.

"Rain is falling all around them...but the sound is probably not concentrated enough to make them move...add that they might also be drawn to each other's moaning..." Saya answers as she keeps leaning her back against a shelve, her arms folded under her chest and a slight frown on her face...

"So leaving them there is the best we can do?" Shizuka asks.

"They didn't manage to get through the shutter even when they tried...and going out to bait them, isn't without its own risks...seems unnecessary...for now at least" I respond as i turn to glance at my bag that was hanging on the side of the furthest row of shelves, the same row that Saya was leaning on.

"Ughh...if only that idiot Kohta had kept his stupid little mouth shut..." Saya keeps looking at the corpses as she groans.

"But...Saya...are condoms really that bad?" Alice, who was sitting on the counter, next to Shizuka...speaks up...and Saya ends up freezing as she locks her head to her...i mean...she even stopped blinking...

"Please don't shout..." I turn to look at Saya as i speak, she darts her head to me and narrows her eyes...but stays otherwise quiet.

"A...Alice, as Kohta mentioned...t...they're meant for...adults" Saya then turns to look at Alice again.

"...Yes...Kohta did tell me that...but, what are they used for?...You're a genius Saya...so you must know, right?" Alice, ever oblivious, asks again as she tilts her head and stares at Saya with big, round eyes...

(Holy crap, Alice throws some hardcore side jabs...and she doesn't even realize it)

"Ahh...well..uhh...i...uhh...well...I'm a genius...o...of course i...do know...but...you're too young...s...so I'm not telling you until you get older" Saya started glancing around the room as she spoke. Until she finally looked back at Alice, right before she finished her sentence.

"Huh...but whyyy..." Alice jumps off the counter hops over to Saya.

"As i told you munchkin, you're too young, that the end of it. I'm not telling you" Saya responds with a stern voice as she narrows her eyes.

"Ouuuuuh...hmm...ohh, Shizuka, Shizuka..." Alice turns around towards the nurse as she starts speaking...only to find the woman whistling...and staring at the ceiling...Alice pouts and folds her arms...and then turns towards the last person she had yet to ask...

"That's a question that girls answer to girls. And boys answer to boys...that's a rule that even overlords have to follow, can't help you here shorty" I cut her off before she could even speak up...

"Muuu...you're all just a bunch of big meanies" Alice, lowers her head and looks at her feet as she keeps pouting...

I shake my head, chuckle, and walk up to Shizuka.

"So...Shizuka. Once you're done looking for the spider pig...could you give me the Humvee keys?" I stop next to her as also turn to glance at the ceiling before looking back at her.

"Umm, oh sure...ehhh...spider...pig?" She fiddles inside the pockets of the jacket she was wearing before pulling them out and tossing them to me.

(When did she even change into that?...)

"Huh, what do you want the Humvee keys for?" Saya asks while still leaning on the shelve.

"Takashi asked me to block the alleyway that the car is parked in. So, before i go ripping off doors to use as barricades, i want to see if i can steer the car a little more to the side in order to block a bigger part of the alleyway...I need the keys to get inside the car and lower the hand break" I replied.

"...You...can rip off doors?" Shizuka ask she keeps looking at me, her eyes slightly wide.

"The door to the room that's behind the counter and the door after the stairs that go to the second floor, they're both made of metal, so they should be pretty sturdy...and uhh...no actual ripping...just need to unscrew the door hinges with a screw driver" I answer.

"And...we do...have a screwdriver?" Saya turns to me and asks...with a slight smirk. And then...silence...

(Uhh...the one i had...got 'confiscated'...when i got 'arrested' by Saya's mom...After that, i ended up with a combat knife...i could use that...but it might dull the edge...ughh...well i could...)

"Heh, i'll take the silence as a no...well, lucky for you i picked up a couple of different types when we were in the estate...though we might need em...looks like i was right" Saya then speaks up again, the grin still on her face...

(Ohooh. Saya wants a head pat?)

"Hmm...good thinking Saya...ok, i shouldn't waste any more time, i'll go to the car and see if i can use it to block the alleyway...without actually jamming it between the walls..." I nod...turn around...and head towards the back door. Right before i exit the building, i look at the shotgun that was still on me.

(...I'm just going to keep it hidden under the coat...i...had enough condom related chats for today)

And so, i walk out the back door and go left, then, once i reached the end of the alleyway, i turn left again and come face to trunk with the Humvee that was a little further off. Also, while there were no corpses in the alleyway...i could still see a couple of them on the road that was partly visible from here...none of them seemed to be interested in heading towards the car though.

(Damn, the sky is really coming down right now...let's get this over with before i end up with a permanent water attribute...)

I walk over to the Humvee, unlock the driver's door, lean inside and push down the handbrake as i turn the steering wheel to the left. I then exit the vehicle, close the door and go behind it.

(...I just hope i can actually push this thing...hmm...well, we're on a flat surface and the tires are fine...so i suppose it shouldn't be that hard)

I nod and then start pushing the car from behind...and slowly, step by step, the Humvee begins rolling towards the wall to the left. Though that meant that the gap in the right was getting bigger now.

I look to my right as i keep pushing.

(Hmm...the way the car is going to be positioned now...it seems to make a 'cone' shape with the wall to the right...i could use a door and 'jam' it between the car the wall)

After i felt the car bump against what i guess was the left wall i back off from the trunk and go to the right side of the vehicle.

(Well, the front part of the car is pretty far apart from the wall...a horizontally placed door would definitely fit in...so i can just place it there and push it until it gets lodged...hmm yea...plus getting rid of it is as easy as kicking it from the opposite side...and...i don't think corpses have the mental capacity to actually realize that they need to pull the door. If they somehow manage to get here that is)

I nod to my self and go over to the left side of the car. After pulling the handbrake up, i lock the driver's door. I was the about to turn around when i heard an...annoyed moan?...groan?...coming from behind me.

Turning around i find...Saya...her back turned to me...dragging a...door?

(Uhh...what exactly am i looking at?...)

I start walking towards her.

"Come on you stupid door, ughhh...Why is this so god damn h..." It...must have taken less than a second...Saya's hands...slipped, probably because of the rain. She then took a couple of steps backward as she flailed her arms...and landed on her butt...to my surprise...all of that...happened in pure silence, as she didn't shout and the door landed on top of her...so that 'splat' was even more...audible...

(Does this count as the ground slapping Saya's butt?...uhh...the fuck am i even thinking? )

"Ughhh Stupid...door..." She starts raising her voice...but quickly lowers it as she fixes her hat and gets up.

"Are you alright?...And...can i ask what exactly you're doing?" I ask as i walk up to her.

"Y...you said you needed a door...Or did you just make me do all this for no reason?" She glanced at me before lifting one side of the door again.

"No, and you're actually just on time, i was about to return in order to get a door" I walk past her and lift the door from the other side.

"We need to get this to the right side of the car. We'll use it to block the opening" I say as i look at Saya, she just glanced behind her and nodded.

We then headed to the right side of the car and placed the door horizontally between the car and the wall. After that, we pushed until it got 'stuck'.

"That should do it" I take a step back and look at the 'barricade'

(The door is past the passenger's seat, so we can use that to go to the other side)

I go to the door and unlock it.

"Uhh...on second thought, going inside like this...we'll probably end up turning the insides into an aquarium" I lock the door again and up climb on the car's hood. Then turn around, kneel down and extend my hand to Saya.

"I...can get up my self. I only fell back there because..." She starts trying to climb up the hood from the side as she speaks...with...uhh...little success.

"Go to the front part of the car and place your foot in one of the holes that are in the car's lower frame, right under the hood, use it as a step to climb up" I respond as i lower my hand.

"I...i know you idiot...you don't have to tell me" Saya responds as she lowers her head slightly and goes to the front part of the hood...and finally climbs up...albeit rather...clumsily.

"Well the left side of the hood is too close to the wall, we'll go back down from the backside of the car" I respond as i get on the roof and glance behind me. Saya follows me with a slight frown...though judging from her red face...i'd say she was probably embarrassed...rather than annoyed.

"...Hmm...you can try to slide down the trunk...though that will..." I turn to Saya as i speak...only to see that she now did indeed look quite...annoyed...

"Well, i'm sorry i'm not a badass acrobat like Saeko..." She responds as she folds her arms and looks away, the frown still on her face.

(...Oh...boy...she just said that didn't she?)

"What does Saeko have to do with any of this?" I 'ask'.

"...Nothing..." She responds as she keeps looking away.

(...Uhh...hmm...ohhh...idea)

I jump down the car, causing Saya to turn to me.

"H...hey where are you..." Before she could finish i unlock the back door and get inside, leaving the door slightly open and hanging my trenchcoat on it.

I then open the hatch and motion Saya to come down.

" I...i told you, i don't need your..."

"You got the MP5 with you?" I cut her off...

"Uhh yes?" She answers.

"Well then, come down here before the car's insides get drenched" I turn to look at the trenchcoat as i speak. Saya grumbles slightly and finally climbs down.

"Ok, now take off the raincoat" I say the moment Saya got down and closed the hatch.

"...W...what?..." She just...stared at me with a blank expression...

(Well...that did sound a bit...weird)

"It's dripping water all over the car, we'll be swimming by the time i'm done showing you how to use the MP5 if you don't take it off." I point at her raincoat as i speak.

"Wait?...Here?...Now?" She just kept staring at me.

"Yea, though if you keep this up, the only thing i'll be doing is mopping the Humvee" I respond.

"...R...right..." Saya nods and sits down as she takes off the raincoat...and is then left in her suspender sort shorts, 'HQ' T-shirt and the black long-sleeved shirt she was wearing under that.

I motion her to give me the raincoat, which she does. I then hang it on the door, next to my own coat.

"Ok...so...can i see the gun for starters?" I ask as i turn back and sit next to her. Saya nods, takes the gun off the sling and hands it to me.

I press on the magazine release button that was behind the mag, remove it and leave it next to me. Then grab the cocking handle and pull it back and up, locking the bolt carrier on the backside of the receiver as a bullet went flying out the ejection port. I pick the stray bullet and leave it next to me. Then pick up the magazine and start unloading the bullets.

After both the gun and magazine were empty i put the magazine back inside the gun grab the cocking handle and slide it back in the front part of the gun before letting it go.

"Ok... let's start with the easy stuff...take off the magazine, and then put it back in" I hand the gun to Saya as i speak...she nods and does as i asked. ...The moment she locked the magazine back into the MP5, she turned to look at me.

"Ok...now do it a couple more times, you'll need to be able to do this without looking" I point at the mag as i speak.

"...Without...looking?" She responds as she glances at the gun and frowns slightly.

"Yes, you need your eyes to look at the thing that's trying to rip you apart" I answer.

"Taking the magazine off is actually pretty easy, lift your trigger finger and place it on the trigger guard that is behind the magazine release button...switch...whatever you want to call it" She nods as i speak.

"Then use your other hand to press the button, it will be a little further off from your finger, so it should be easy to find " She nods and starts moving her hand as she glances at the gun, lowering her head slightly. And a couple of seconds later, she was holding the mag in her other hand.

"Placing it back in, is the same deal, use your trigger finger to 'feel' where exactly the gun is at. Then bring the magazine a little further forward from there...also, use your thumb and, or index finger to feel the gun, so you'll know when you've found the correct spot...and just to make sure, give it a strong push after you placed it inside...you should hear a 'click' after the mag gets locked in, also, hold the mag in a way so that the 'curve' looks away from you" Saya kept staring at me, while occasionally nodding...no whining, no grumbling, no frowning...she was actually taking this pretty seriously.

...She then spent the next couple of minutes trying to 'blind' reload the gun.

(So...next..uhh...next...how to use the sights...the safety...the scope...hmm...shoulder placement...hmm

I could also show her how to load bullets in the magazine and how to deal with a jam...but...not today, showing her everything now will just overload her... genius or not)

"Ok...i think i got the hang of this" Saya speaks up as she turns to look at me...and then starts reloading the gun while still looking at me...i think she was grinning slightly...

(Oh...she's fast...well, the whole deal is doing this under pressure...but still, not bad)

"Hmm..good. Just remember, if you change an empty magazine...or more correctly, if the chamber has no bullet inside, you'll also have to pull this handle all the way to the back and then let it bolt forward by itself...Because if i remember correctly, this gun doesn't lock the carrier on the back after the last round" I point at the receiver and then at the cocking handle as i speak. Saya just looks at my finger and nods.

"Next...try aiming the gun out the front windshield, at a corpse in the distance" I point to my left as i speak...Saya looks at me for a bit before nodding again. She lifts the MP5 and 'aims' it.

(she has the stock on her shoulder, but did not place her cheek on it, which i think is possible with this certain stock..)

"...The sight's not working..." She says as she keeps aiming the gun.

"...Right, look under the dot sight, the iron sights should be there. Try looking through them and tell me if your target looks 'further away' " I point at the guns actual sights as i speak. Saya nods and lowers her head slightly...

"Umm...yea...it does seem further away...i guess the scope can act like a mini binocular?" She responds shortly after.

"Well since the scope has some magnifying capabilities, we should leave it on. Now to aim, you have to set your eye, the sight, and target in a straight line, with the target being in the 'center' of the dot sight, that is where the red dot would normally be at, the same rule applies to the iron sights" I then place my finger on the stock.

"Put the lower part of your cheek here and try to 'align' your eye with the rear sight, then the rear sight the front sight" I then point at the rear sight as i speak and finally at the front one...Saya nods again...closes one eye and puts her cheek on the gun's stock.

"Uh...how do i...align... my eye with the rear sight?" She keeps looking down the sight as she speaks, her eyebrows taking a questioning look.

"Uhh...I don't really have a good way to explain this...just make sure that you're looking the rear sight from center back and not slightly sideways...then try to make the spike in the front sight align to the middle of the...uhh...Tetris 'T' type block cut out..." As i finish speaking, Saya turns to me with a cheeky one-sided smirk.

" 'T' Tetris block?" She 'Asks'.

" Yes, 'T' Tetris block...if you don't like my naming methods...you can always ask Kohta to..."

"I...i never said that...s...so...w...what do i do next?" Her eyes go wide for a second before she turns to look down the sights.

(Heh...)

"Well, while not as important on small caliber weapons. Because their recoil isn't strong enough, make sure that when shooting your teeth aren't tightly shut, but not open either, lest you end up biting your own tongue off...Second, before you take a shot take a deep breath...now uhh...the next part, i've heard two different ways it can go, either hold your breath in your lungs for as long as you shoot, or, exhale slightly then hold your breath and shoot, both are meant to keep your hands steady." Saya turns to me and nods.

"Which...method do you use?" She asks as she keeps looking at me.

"...None...most of the time i do shoot, i use the shotgun...most time that i use the shotgun, i bearly even get to 'aim'...but if i had a choice, i'd say use the second method" I turn to look at the shotgun as i speak.

Before Saya could answer, the radio i had on an inside pocket in my trench coat goes live...or well...it makes a single click.

"Oh, that must be the guys" I lean towards the door, take the radio out of the coat and make a single click before placing it back inside the pocket.

"...Looks like this plan worked pretty well after all huh..." Saya speaks up as i leave the trenchcoat back on the door.

"Yea, better than i expected to be honest" I respond as i sit back in the center of the car.

"Hum...it's...an ok plan...but...i...would have still thought of something if you hadn't..." She 'hugs' the gun slightly as she turns to look the windshield.

"Well even if you didn't, it was thanks to you that we found the radios to begin with, so this is actually thanks to you." I respond.

"O...of course it is, i'm a genius, i figured we could use them one way or another" She glances at me before turning to look back towards the windshield.

After that, she stayed quiet for some seconds before she started 'aiming' her gun again.

"...Thanks..." She whispers after a couple of minutes have passed...

"Anytime Saya" i replied as i turn to look at her.

She then lowers the gun...and keeps looking at it.

"Naier...do you...miss your old life?" She asks.

"You mean before the outbreak?" Saya nods without turning to me.

(...Uhh...well...the only thing i can count as 'pre outbreak' is when i was not 'here'...so...do i...miss that?...Sure, i do have the occasional 'i want video games ' moment...or wanting to sleep more...and obviously not having walking corpses that want to rip my head off strolling outside my front door...and electricity...but...well...)

"Both the then and now...have their pros and cons...i can't say that i hate the now, i can't say that i don't miss the then either...you...do?" I replied...Saya just nodded...and a couple of seconds later, she turned to me.

"...How...can you even 'find' pros in a situation like this?...How is anything even remotely better than how it used to be..." She narrows her eyes slightly.

(Well I'm not surprised she thinks that, she was...a spoiled rich kid after all...and her parents didn't seem to 'push' her too much either, i mean hell, in the anime, she needed to end up getting slapped by her mother to make her listen...and judging from her reaction...it must have been quite a 'new' experience...Yet in the end, she did say that she loved them...and even before that, during all of her whining moments, she never actually said that she hated them either...and...as much as i like her...this is something that i need to say, for her own good...and this moment seems to be as good as any)

"Well...it's just that...there are a couple of things that happened...that would otherwise be impossible to even think of, was it not for the outbreak" Saya tilts her head as she looks at me.

"Like?" She asks.

"Well...other than driving around in a military vehicle while being armed to the teeth in the middle of a city? Us speaking is also one of them" As i finish Saya just keeps staring at me.

"Uhhh...what do you mean...'us speaking'? How could that be 'impossible to happen' was it not for the outbreak? It's not like i'm..."

"Deaf and stupid" I cut her off...she just...blinks...

"That's what you called me the first time i ever saw you and that was also the last thing you said to me before the outbreak happened" I fold my arms as i speak.

"W...well...y...you blocked the stairs...and i was in a hurry and you didn't listen and..."

(...She actually remembers that?)

"Even so...would 'you' try to get close to somebody who insulted you when you didn't even know them?...Even if you were in the wrong" I ask.

Saya lowers her head slightly, averts her eyes...and goes quiet...

(Uhhh...shit...maybe i went a bit too hard on her)

"So, if there's one reason that i'm glad for this outbreak, then it's because i was able to find out that you're not the person who i thought you were." Saya just kept looking at her knees as i spoke...

"I'm...sorry..." She whispers softly after a couple of seconds have passed...

(...Did she just? Apologize to me?)

"Uhh...what?" I ask as i keep staring at her.

"I said i'm sorry..." She looks at me with a slight frown.

"Uhh... So that means you're going to stop calling me an idiot now?" I ask as i tilt my head.

"I'm calling you an idiot only when you're being an idiot...idiot" Saya responds as she hugs the MP5 and looks at the windshield as she narrows her eyes.

"Well Saya, just so i make my self clear. I'm not mad or angry at you, if i didn't want to be around you, then i wouldn't be here right now...so if you need my help, just tell me" The moment i finish my sentence Saya turns to stare at me...but did not speak...she...did go slightly red though.

"And speaking of here and nows...we better go back inside...before the other two get worried" I turn around, grab the trench coat, wear it and exit the humvee.

Saya then followed suit after she hid the gun under her own raincoat...I then locked the back door, went to check the front door...and...uhh...

I saw Saya in the car's mirror...

She had her arms tightly folded under her chest and was slightly twisting her upper body from side to side...also...she was smiling...a smile that i have seen only once more so far, and that was when she was hugging her mother...

Yet...the moment i turned to face her.

"Come on, quit wasting time...if you're done, then let's go already..." She instantly turns around and starts walking without waiting for my reply.

(Heh...chunderes...)

And so...we then walked back into the building...and towards the main room...

"Saya, Saya!...Did your date go well?" The moment we set foot in there, Alice popped up from behind the shelves, with an unopened bun in her hands.

"W...w...wha...Aaaa...you stupid little...Munchkiiiiin~...let me tell you a little secret~" Saya started raising her voice...but then quickly lowers it, 'smiles'...and slowly creeps up to Alice, who just looked at her like a deer that was staring down at the headlights of a big rig...and the moment Saya got within arms reach...well... let's just say that Alice's cheeks will remember this day...for quite some time...all the while, Shizuka was giggling from behind the counter...

"Was that your idea?..." I ask as i take off the coat, hang it on one of the shelve's corners and turn to Shizuka.

"...I got no idea what you're talking about" Shizuka puts her finger under her chin and looks away without turning her head, a slight grin on her face.

(Definitely her doing)

"Well... i guess now we wait" I sit on the counter and turn to look at Saya, who was still going for a full-blown makeover on Alice's cheeks...

(...I just realized...i forgot to reload Saya's gun...uhh...got so focused on Saya her self...that forgot about the gun...)

And in the end, i found my self strolling around the store, after looking at the corpses on the other side of the shutter for a couple of minutes...also...why do i find it progressively harder to resist snacking on the crap around here...

"I'm boooored..." Shizuka was the first one to 'speak up' as she sprawled her upper body on the counter.

"You should be glad that you 'can' be bored...I just hope that Takashi and the rest can find Rei's mother...alive..." Saya responds as she keeps looking at the corpses on the other side of the shutter...

"...Umm...yea... i'm sorry..." Shizuka lifts her self up and folds her arms as she lowers her head slightly.

Then, I felt something tugging my hand, turning to my left I see Alice looking at me.

"You...are not from here right?...Are...your mom and dad ok?" She asks...and now...very single head in here was turned towards me...

(...God damn it Alice...)

"I don't know, and...there isn't much I can do about it anyway" i respond.

"I'm sure they are ok...they are probably doing overlord stuff...like you are..." Alice speaks in a low tone as she fidgets in place and lowers her head.

(...Are they? doubt it...i mean, they' re not even 'my' parents to begin with...)

"Yea, they probably are" I pat Alice on the head as I speak.

"...Mhm...I'm sure they're alright. They're probably all wearing masks and..."

"_Hey can you hear me? It's Takashi"_ And as Shizuka was about to say something...incredibly stupid...the radio in my coat goes live.

(Perfect timing...is perfect)

I walk up to the coat and take out the radio.

"Yea i can hear you, i guess that means you're nearby?" I respond.

"_Ye, we'll be there in a couple of minutes...and we...are bringing an extra member_" He says as the rest of the group gathers around me.

"Hmm? you found..."

"_We found Rei's mother, she's alive"_ He answers.

"They found Rei's mom!" Alice speaks up with a giggle as she keeps jumping around while holding Shizuka's hands, who was also giggling along...

"Ok, w_e will keep silent until we get near, talking around 'them', is not among the things that i prefer to do" _And the radio goes silent.

"Well, glad that went smoothly...but now we need to figure out when and how we'll leave this place..." I say as I walk next to the glass wall and look at the sky through the shutter...the rain...seemed to have stopped but...well...it was starting to get dark.

"I don't know how far the elementary school is at...but there's a high chance it will end up getting dark before we can even reach it" Saya walks up next to me as she starts talking.

" Yea, we'll wait for the rest and then decide what we should do...but...I'm against going out there in the dark...corpses are already blind...and driving with the headlights on is like we're asking for an ambush...especially with how valuable cars are right now. Add that driving in the middle of the night means that we'll have to go slower than normal as our visibility will be crap..." I turn to look at Saya as i speak...she just...stared at me.

"You...really thought this through huh?...Still...that means that, we'll have to leave the moment the sun comes up...that would be five or six AM. Meaning it would leave us like six hours to get there. Normally, i would say that this much time is more than enough...but now... " She trails off as she turns to look at the corpses on the other side of the shutters.

"We don't know how many roads will be blocked off" Saya nods as i respond.

"_Hey guys, we're on the road by the store, we'll be there in less than a minute_" The radio in my hand speaks up.

"If the alleyway you barricaded is inaccessible then go to the car, you can it as a 'door'...or you know...climb over it." Saya...ended up staring at me with a slight frown the moment i mentioned the 'climbing' part...

"_Alright we'll do that then, also, be ready. We're going to make some noise before entering the alleyway, to draw them away from the front entrance_" And then, the radio went silent once again.

(Well, getting the corpses out of our faces will make it easier on our mental health if we stay for the night...and with how fast the sun is going out, i think we might)

"Ok, i'm going to the car to unlock the doors" I grab the trenchcoat and start heading towards the exit.

"O...Ahh..w...wait up, i'm coming as well...and...why are you even wearing the trenchcoat right now? It's not raining anymore" Saya starts running behind me as she asks.

"Simple...it looks nice" I answer as i exit the building through the back door.

"Uhh...Have you gone stupid? This thing will just hinder your movement...though it does...suit you..." Saya ends her sentence with a whisper...that i heard...because you know...good hearing and all.

"Thanks" I answer as i glance at her.

"W...wha? I...i didn't say anything. Why are you thanking me, i said you're Stupid. Stu. Pid." Saya i raises her voice slightly as she keeps walking next to me.

(Heh...chunderes)

I chuckle as i keep walking. Once we reached the car, i unlock the left back door and climb up to the roof through the hatch, Saya following behind me shortly after.

"We'll have to be a tad quieter now, the rain stopped so nothing will hide the noise" I walk down to the hood as i glance back at Saya, she nodded without speaking.

And some minutes later, we heard a couple of loud yells, and then saw Takashi's group popping up into the alleyway. And so, they, along with their new 'member' aka Rei's mother...aka Kiriko, came over to the car.

"Unlock the right door if you want to go through the car, or climb up and go over the roof, your pick" I toss the keys to Takashi as i speak.

"Anybody want to use the door?" He asks as he turns to the group...and...silence...

Saeko...was already up on the hood next to me...and the rest had already moved towards the hood.

"Guess we'll be all climbing up then" Takashi responds as he tosses the keys back.

"Yea, it's not that hard to climb up anyway" Kohta responds...

"Then move it fatso, we don't have all day" Saya responds with an angry frown...

(...ouch...)

So, with the rest climbing up the car, me and Saeko moved back and jumped down the Humvee.

"Anything happened while we were gone?" Saeko asks once we were both next to the car.

"No, not really...i take it everything went fine on your side too? " I replied with a question, to which Saeko nodded.

By the time the others were over the car, Saya had also gotten out. So, after i locked the doors, we headed back into the store. Where the whole group gathered up as Rei's mom introduced herself, followed up by the rest of us.

"So...now we go to the school?" And the moment the introductions were done, Kohta asked the million-dollar question...

"I...don't think that's a good idea...to leave right now i mean" Saya glances at me before speaking up, causing the group to turn towards her.

She then went on to use the reasons i had mentioned to her some time ago.

"...But, can we really stay here?...i mean sure, this place is relatively safe...but will we make it in time if we don't leave now?" Rei then asks the second most obvious question.

"Well...if we had a map we could..."

"We do have a map, in my bag" I cut Takashi off and point at the bag that was hanging on the side of a shelve.

"Ohh, then let's use it, it'll be faster and much easier to figure out what our next step should be if we can see the exact distance we need to cover" Takashi nods as he looks at me...and...a couple of minutes later...we were all around the counter. The map in the center, with Alice pointing a flashlight at it.

"Ok, so...first, the elementary school is in here" Takashi points at the rightmost landmass.

"And we're still here i suppose" I say as i point at the central landmass.

"Yes, we're here" Rei then points at our exact location.

So...compared to the river that separated us from the school's landmass we were uhh...Five blocks in distance?...Well, i say five...but...the distance these blocks had between them was incosistent...the first two looked 'normal'...but the other three...each one was like four blocks stuffed into one in length and two into one in width...in other words...it was quite the distance to the river from here, but at least we were still in the left-most part of the central landmass...which was definitely good...

"And where exactly is the school located at?" Kohta asks.

"Uhh right...i remember it was somewhat near a bridge...my mother always complained how she had to take an...umm...how are they called...these bridges that open up in two in order to let ships pass through?" Takashi turns to look at the group as he speaks.

"Bascule bridges" Saya folds her arms as she turns to look at Takashi.

"Ohh...i...always just called them lifting bridges..." He responds as he scratches the back of his head.

"Because you're an idiot...now, can we get back to you telling us where the school is at?" she 'asks'...you know...i find it weird that Rei doesn't seem to care that Saya is calling Takashi an idiot...then again these three knew each other from a young age...

"...Hmm...this block...no...uhh...ohh...wait, here it is" He points at the rightmost landmass...about...six blocks inland.

"Ehhh...that's...not 'too' bad, it's actually a straight drive from here" Kiriko smiles and nods as she looks at the map.

"You said that this monster of a car that is parked outside can still run right? With the car, it'll be what...an hour? Two-hour drive?...And...uhh...ohh wait...ahh crap..." She then stops mid-sentence.

"Huh, what's wrong?" Rei asks as she turns to stare at her mother before looking back at the map.

"We're here right?" Kiriko points at our location, and Rei nods.

"So we need to go through here..." she then runs her finger through the three long blocks and stops on a bridge that was right after the last large block...

(Wait...we never mentioned that the car worked in here...did they tell her when they were out there?...Ughh...so much about stating that we must NOT talk about the fucking car...)

"We probably can't take this road..." she keeps running her finger back and forth around the three large blocks.

"How come?" Kohta asks.

"Shopping district...a lot of traffic...a lot of people..."She turns to us as she finishes speaking.

"...Then our only route is through this bridge?" I ask as i point at the only nearby bridge...which was uhh...six blocks 'down' from our location...

Six blocks down...and compared to the road we needed to take to get to the school, four blocks up after we cross the bridge...so ten blocks..and then five...no...fourteen blocks to get to the bridge...plus six more to move 'inland' towards the school...

(The hell?... Why..is it so far away?... In the manga's last chapter the person i suspect to be Rei's dad heard the group's gunshots...so it shouldn't be THAT far...uhh...fuck...is it possible that the last chapter doesn't 'count'?... Was it made in a different way or something?...ughh...whatever, no point wondering about that now, it is what it is)

"Well, we don't have much of a choice, do we?...The next bridge is way too far away...and this river, while not very wide, is always deep enough to swallow cars whole...I...found that out when i kind of tossed a couple of troublemakers in that river once...when i was in a mobile traffic unit" Kiriko then points at the next nearest bridge...

...Nearest...with a big bucket of salt that is...as compared to the second bridge? It's like uhh...a lot of blocks away in distance...Thirty? Forty?...double that in total as we'll have to return...plus add that the longer we're on the road, the higher the chance that we might end up in trouble...yea...no.

"So, we leave now or?" Shizuka asks.

"...Going through the 'normal' road would have taken us one to two hours right?... So, let's say that the distance just got doubled...that would be three to four hours, meaning we still have two hours left for making sure we actually get there...of course, i'm not counting the increased chance of finding trouble on the way...but...if we find that trouble in the middle of the night, we might lose more than just time." I keep looking at the map as i speak.

"We'll be cutting it real close like that...what if we miss it?...My dad is there too." Rei turns to look at me as she speaks.

"...Well...what should we do then?" Asami asks.

"...As much as i want to leave right now...there are still clouds out there...with no street lights and the sky being blocked by clouds...we'll be going completely blind..." Saya glances at the glass wall as she speaks.

"So either we leave when the sun comes out...or we check if the clouds clear up in the middle of the night...though that would mean that some of us will not be getting enough sleep, as we'll need to keep an eye out" I fold my arms as i speak.

"Hmm that's not a bad idea actually, there are ten of us here...so if seven or six people stay up, we can cover the night shifts, while everybody still gets a good amount of sleep" Kiriko speaks up as she nods at me...

(Judging from how she didn't react when she heard that Rei's dad, in other words, her husband is there. They probably already told her when they were coming here. At least she does not seem as self-absorbed as Rei...)

"Let's do that then, this way at least, we won't feel like we didn't at least try." Takashi speaks up...and the whole group nods in agreement.

"Wait...do we have a watch?..." Takashi asks right after...

"Uhh...i used to use my phone to see the time..." And Shizuka pretty much answered for everybody...

"Here" I toss the watch i had in my poker on the map.

"Ohh...classy, didn't take you for a person that wears this type of thing" Kiriko picks up the watch and looks at it.

"I don't...i got it after the E.M.P blast" I answer.

"So...where will we sleep?..." Shizuka asks.

"We have the sleeping bags in the car right?...What about the upper floor?" I turn to Takashi as i ask.

"Hmm well the place didn't look too dusty, it was probably cleaned regularly, so i don't see why not" He answers.

And like that...we got the sleeping bags out of the car...desided who will stay up and when...and then went upstairs.

As for the guarding duty. First, was Takashi...yea, little shit managed to get the best number in the rotation...Followed by Saya, Rei, Saeko, Kohta, me, Asami and lastly Kiriko. Though the whole thing would probably end with either me or Asami.

And no, i didn't make this rotation...Takashi did...Otherwise, i'd have my time sandwiched between Saya and Saeko...Yea, i'm a horrible person...

So like that, the group other than Takashi went to sleep...We...

Went to sleep...

...

We slept...

...

We...

...

...Yea...no

(UGHHH...nope...can't sleep...blame the fact that this is officially the moment where i have no idea what's to come...fuhhh...i expected to be anxious...but...damn...)

I turn around to look at the ceiling.

(...I'll just get something to drink...or go and sit on the car for some time)

I slowly get up and carefully leave the room, before you ask, i was dressed...being kind of stuck in a room with everybody...you know...

I walk down the stairs and look at the room...we left a flashlight on 'weak' mode to light up the location, so i could see relatively well inside...and...

(Saya's here?...so at least i did sleep for an hour, well no change of plans. I'll just get some water from the fridge and be on my way)

I was about to walk towards the fridge...when Saya lifted her Mp5 towards the store's front glass wall...and with a slight smile she...

"Bang...bang...bang, bang" ...whispers...slightly jerking her body backward as she tries to...emulate the guns recoil?...

(...Did i...just see this?)

I reflexively pinch my self as i stare at Saya...

(Yep...this just happened...hmm...uhh...i should probably sneak away...Saya will probably freak...)

"...Bang...Bang...ehehe"

(...)

"If you actually try to shoot like that, the only thing you'll manage to do is lose your balance..." The moment i speak up Saya drops the gun and turns around while doing a small backward jump...she...did stay quiet at least...

"W...wa...you...you're not supposed to be up now...w...why are you here...w..." She starts stuttering as she keeps looking around...

"Take that posture again" I respond with a calm voice as i walk up to her.

"I'm really, i wasn't, i..."

"I know, come on, let me show you how you need to stand when you shoot" I cut her off...Saya keeps staring at me, before she slowly nods and lifts the gun...her face a deep red.

"Hmm...right handed...bring your left leg to the front and pull the right one back, also, slightly twist my upper body to the right...and try to keep your firing arm close to your body" Saya starts changing her posture as i speak...trying to follow my directions.

"Good, now...hmm..." As i think, Saya keeps glancing at me...She then lowers her gun...then takes the Luger out of it holster...looks at it...turns to me and extends her arm.

(Wait...is she?)

"D...don't get any funny ideas...it's just that you know more about guns...s...so you can hold on to it until i am ready to use it..." She glances around as she speaks, slowly lowering her head.

"I will...want it back...so you better not break or lose it..." She keeps glancing at me as she speaks.

"...Of course...just...can i have the holster?...Don't think it's a good idea to keep it in the bag...or in a pocket" I respond as i look at the gun.

"R...right...of course" Saya puts the gun back into the holster, takes it off and hands it to me.

I then take the holster, wear it and turn to look at the trenchcoat...

(Well...i'm glad that Saya is giving me this...but..uhh...the Luger is a WW2 Nazi gun...the coat i have looks like a German WW2 trenchcoat...and ohh God it'll be very awkward if i stumble upon an actual Fascist who'll end up thinking that i'm one of them because of that...actually...if a Nazi get bit...do they turn into Nazi zombies?...or regular Zombies?...hmm...)

"..W...what are you so silent for...say something..." Saya's voice snaps out of my thoughts, i turn to her and shake my head.

"Yea, sorry. It's just that the gun and coat combination made me wonder...do Nazis turn into Nazi zombies after they get bit?" I ask as i look at her. Saya just stared at me...and after blinking a couple of times.

"Uhh...should have figured it was something idiotic...seriously...is your brain filled with stupid?" She asks as she tilts her head and raises an eyebrow.

I just chuckle and turn to look outside...Saya keeps staring at me for some time before also turning to look towards the shutter.

We stayed like that for some time, until...

"Do...you think we'll make it in time?" Saya asks as she keeps looking outside.

"Honestly...i don't know...our chances are not that horribly bad though" I respond.

"Yea...it's just...i just realized...won't all the bridges be blocked off?" She turns to me as she asks.

"Hmm...possible...but...we have dynamite don't we?" I turn to her as i speak...Saya just...stares at me.

"...You intend to blow up the bridge? Are you nuts?" She asks as she keeps looking at me.

"If it has concrete blocks in the way...then yes...if it has cars...guess we can lift the handbrakes and push em away, the point is, we must not pull punches on this, we have to make sure we get there before the extraction is over" Saya, after hearing my response stayed quiet for a bit...

"...Yea...yea, you are right...we...do have to make sure we get there on time, as we won't have a second shot at this" She responds as she nods.

"Still...Uhh...i honestly don't know what I'll do if we do get rescued...Seeing as i spend most of my time thinking of how to not get eaten alive...I'll probably end up with way too much free time..." I tilt my head slightly as i look outside...

(And no video games)

"Umm...w...well...w...we...could...hang out...m...maybe...i could make you be less of an idiot..." Saya glances around as she speaks.

"That's...Private...lessons?" I ask with a slight grin. Saya's eyes go wide as her face turns red.

"G...go to sleep you frigging idiot..." She says as she turns her back to me and folds her arms...

I chuckle and head to the fridge, open it, and grab a water bottle...

(...Heh...chunderes...)


	34. calculated risk

"So, are we all set?" Takashi glanced around the car's interior as he asked.

"...It's a bit of a tight squeeze, but we can manage" Rei responds as she tries to fit her self on the seat. Next to her and on her right, Takashi...on her left, Saya, followed by Saeko and then me. Kohta and Asami were sitting in their 'foot section' as per usual, Kiriko was on the front passenger's seat with Alice on her lap, and finally, Shizuka was sitting on the driver's seat like always.

I close my eyes and let out a yawn as i put my hand in front of my mouth, i might be wearing a mask, but well...you know...habits...

"Didn't sleep well?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"Uhh...not going to deny that" I shake my head and glance at her before looking back out the car's window.

Now...another thing that i didn't mention is that...with how tightly packed the back seats were at the moment...i had Saeko literally glued on me...again...not complaining...

"Leave it to the idiot to be half asleep in the important moment of the day..." Saya glanced at me with a slight smirk.

"Hmm...yea...it' just that...i ended up finding somebody to...hang out with..." I respond as i turn to her...Saya's face goes red as her eyes open up slightly.

"L..let's just go already...we need to get to that school, as fast as possible" She responds as she turns to look at the front windshield.

(Heh, the wrong fight you picked my dear chundere...)

And with that, the engine came alive...and the car started to move...

(In the end, it was in Asami's 'round' that the sun came up, and as the clouds didn't disperse all night...we couldn't leave earlyer...not the best way to start the day...as we now have like six hours left in order to reach the school...but...nothing to be too freaked out about...if we do find a road blocked by a horde and there's no other way around, we'll just use the dynamites...)

I let off another yawn as i keep thinking...

(Seriously though...i bearly managed to get any sleep yesterday...even after my little chat with Saya..)

"Hmm, turn left of the first clear intersection, then keep going straight" Kiriko, who had the map in her hands, points at the road ahead as she speaks.

"Mhm" Shizuka responds with a nod.

(Still...it makes me wonder...what would be the 'now'...was i not here with the group...like...Asami and the car would not be here for one...Shido would still be alive, probably stirring up a shitstorm in the elementary school...the estate would be a sizzling wreck, with Saya's parents being M.I.A...huh...so...in the end...i did make some sort of difference...didn't i ?)

As i took a deep breath, i found my self closing my eyes involuntarily...

(Ahh, for fuck's sake, i couldn't sleep all night...yet the moment the sun came up, i can't keep my fucking eyes open...i know i was more of a night owl...but this is getting ridiculous. Still...uhh...they...can probably handle this without me...so...i...can probably take a small break, right?...Yea, they can wake me up if something happens...)

And...The moment i decided that it was ok for me to dose off, i shut down almost instantly...it's funny how i was able to fall asleep in a moving car...but couldn't frigging sleep inside a sleeping bag when i was in pitch-black darkness...Oh well...at least the seat is comfortable...are Humvee seats supposed to be this comfortable?

I just...wish that whoever is poking my God damn sides right now...would stop. Uhh, if i knew that i'd end up being under attack, i wouldn't have taken off my trenchcoat...

Still...wouldn't it be nice to find my self in the elementary school after i wake up?...Yea...that would be nice...i mean...for starters...i do wish i had some more free time to spend with Saeko and Saya...hopefully, without any 'incidents'...like getting stabbed, decapitated and going on a one-way cruise on a sailboat...

Also, on a side note...i have the weirdest dreams when i keep drifting between awake and asleep...

I mean...i'm pretty sure we did NOT have a fireball spitting dragon in our car...not one with such a magnificent mustache at least.

...But...

Well...you know what they say...all good things must come to an end...and i'm pretty sure...that somebody is shaking me right now...

I open my eyes and focus on what was straight ahead of me...in other words, the windshield. I blink several times as i keep looking at it...

(That's weird...I'm pretty sure that i was sitting behind the driver's seat...not in the middle...how did i...)

I lower my sight...and see...purple lace stockings?...Yea...these...were definitely not my legs...

(...I'm sleeping on Saeko's shoulder ain't i...this seat...must be cursed...or blessed...depending on how one looks at the matter...)

Then, something started shaking me again...

"Ughh, just slap the idiot already, that should wake him up" An annoyed voice speaks up.

"I wouldn't treat Naier like that Saya." A different voice answers...

"W..well I'm just saying, you have been shaking him for almost half an hour by now..." Saya responds...

(...I'm...never letting Saya wake me up...she would probably end up trying to elbow drop me or something... )

"In either case, we should wake him up, we're near the bridge. And after that, it won't take more than thirty minutes until we reach the school. If we keep up with this speed that is" Another female voice joins the chat.

"Still...that was some good thinking, using the dynamite to bait the corpse away from the road" The same female voice continues.

"We have already used this same tactic before, figured it would work this time around as well" A male voice responds.

(We used dynamite?...Hmm...that kind of explains the flame-spitting dragon...still got no idea why he had a mustache though...in any case...time to 'wake up')

I lift my head from what turned out to indeed be Saeko's shoulder and shake my head...

"Good morning" Saeko leans slightly forward as she turns to look at me.

"Uhh...thanks...how long have i been out?..." I ask.

"About three hours" Takashi responds.

"Slept well?" Rei adds up with a slight smirk and a...rather sarcastic voice.

"...Right...sorry i ended up on you" I say as i turn to Saeko. She just...smiled and shook her head.

"You don't have to apologize Naier, i just want to be of use to you, in any way i can" She responds with the smile still on her face...and...the whole group...including me...ends up staring at her with a blank expression...well...all but Saya...who instead puffed her cheeks and narrowed her eyes as she shifted her gaze between me and Saeko...

(...well...she...laid that one out pretty plainly...way too plainly now that i think about it...)

"S...so, how far are we from the school?" I ask as i glance around.

"Ohh, we'll be at the bridge that connects the landmasses soon" Kiriko answers.

"And...we have, how much time left again?" I ask once again.

"Three hours or so. If we keep up this pace, we'll be at the school long before the extraction is over...we're doing good, no need to worry...Romeo" Kiriko responds with a slight grin as she puts the watch i gave her in her pocket...

"...Hmmm...Ohh! Romeo the Ninj..."

"Nope, nu-uh. Not happening...i'd rather be called ninja penguin" I cut off Shizuka before she could finish.

"Uhh...ninja...penguin?" Kiriko asks as she lifts an eyebrow.

"Yea, he is Ninja penguin the overlord !" Alice turns around and pops her head over from the front seat as she points at me with a smile.

"Ninja penguin, the supervillain overlord" Kohta adds right after.

(Ohh come on, you in on this too now?...TR-8R, we have a traitor in our midst...)

"Ohh Shizuka, take a left turn here, the bridge should be a straight line after that" Kiriko glances at the map before turning to look at Shizuka.

"Oki doki...ahh...i can't wait to reach the school, i want to take a hot bath and finally relax..." Shizuka giggles slightly as she turns the steering wheel.

And the moment she took the turn...the bridge came into view...and that...was all i could really see to be honest, as the surrounding area consisted mostly of tall buildings that hid any further view of...well...everything...Also, this bridge...i think it might be the same one that Takashi mentioned when he was talking about his mother, a bascule bridge. The reason?...simple...

"...Are you kidding me!?" Rei shouts as she looks at the bridge...which was lifted up...

"I...can't drive up that thing...it's way too steep..." Shizuka lets out a worried sigh and lowers her head slightly...

The rest of the group stayed silent as we drove closer to the bridge...There were also a couple of corpses roaming next to it. About...six...seven of them?...but in all honesty, we had 'bigger' problems to deal with right now...

"But...we're so close...we...we just need to get on the other side...so...why...why is it like this?...This isn't fair..." Asami was the first one to speak...

"Shit...we need a new plan, stat" Takashi lowers his head and narrows his eyes...

(Well, Saya was right...so...uhh...now...ok...let's take things, one at a time)

"We have three hours left...the third bridge is out of the question, it's way too far...then, we have the bridge by the shopping district...the road there has fewer intersections, meaning less space to 'move', and it's also supposed to have way more traffic, so the chance of the roads being blocked off by car wrecks is also higher...plus...we'll have to backtrack to even get there..." I look around the road through the windows as i speak...

"Y...you mean we're stuck here?...but we're so close!" Rei ends up shouting at me as she finishes her sentence.

"So, what do we do now?...You can't exactly blow up 'this' roadblock" Saya calmly speaks up next as she turns towards me...the rest of the group...just looked at her with a questioning look...then again, they don't know what i and Saya talked about yesterday night.

"...How about going on foot?" I ask.

"Huh? What do you mean" Takashi asks back.

"I mean what i just said...we're not too far from the school right? Like six blocks inland and four blocks to the left, if we can go diagonally, that's even less" I say as i fold my arms.

" That's true...but we still need to cross the bridge, i don't see anything that we can use to cross it, even on foot" Takashi turns to look at the bridge as he speaks.

"We have too many tall buildings around here, in other words, we don't have a clear view of our surroundings...now...right before the river, there should be some open space for pedestrians to walk on...so there 'might' be a small bridge for pedestrians hidden behind the buildings." I point at the front windshield, towards the road's corners next to the bridge.

"Hmm...we don't have much of a choice to we?...Ok...the most silent ones among us can go and check if there are any bridges around, then return, there are a bunch of them near the bridge, and we don't know if there are more of them hiding around...so, no guns...actually, no fighting at all, just look around and then come back" Takashi nods and looks back at me.

"Alright, sounds like a plan, so, who goes?" I ask.

"I can go" Kohta lifts his hand...and the whole group turns to look at him...

"What? Being silent is covert ops One-o-One, and i had training in that" Kohta responds as he looks back at the group.

"...You know, i'm not even surprised anymore...also, i'm going as well" I say right after, Saeko glances at me before turning towards Takashi, slowly lifting her hand.

"Ok, two people should be enough, just look and come back" Takashi speaks up before Saeko could say anything, She lowers her hand and turns to me.

"Just looking, no gunshots, no close combat" I respond as i look back at her and then at Kohta, who nods and turns to exit the car, with me following suit right after, and once we got out, we headed straight towards the bridge that was up ahead.

"I can see corpses in the alleyways between the buildings...and some of them are sprawled on the sidewalks too, could not really see them from the car because the benches and trees on the sidewalks blocked our view..." Kohta whispers to me.

"Yea...makes me wonder...if they raised the bridge with survivors still left on this side..." I nod as i look at the surrounding corpses.

"...Possible...but the street is a bit 'too' clean...and there's a relatively small number of actual dead bodies around...also, there is nothing around here that seems to prove that there was any sort of blockade or defense set up, no cop cars, no fences and no officers...dead or otherwise..." He responds.

"Hmm...true, maybe the just lifted the bridge and left then? You know, fewer points to focus on" I rest my hand on my shotgun as i look around, Kohta nods at me without saying anything else.

After we got near the bridge, we moved in separate directions. I went to check the left sidewalk that disappeared behind the last building before the river, while Kohta went towards the right one.

(Hmm...quite the fancy sidewalk this is, pretty wide with a brick-paved floor, bushes lining up in the middle along with oval lamp posts, and benches on both sides...add the river that's to the right and this would make for a relatively nice place to relax, was it not for the end of the world that is)

I walk up to the right corner of the sidewalk and look to my left...

(Still...nothing...i can't see a single 'thing' that connects the two sides...i do see a horde on the other side of the river though, on the opposite road...uhh...problems just keep piling up...)

I turn to look towards my right, past the corpses, to the side that Kohta was at...after a couple of seconds, he also turned to look me. I raise my hand in a 'questioning' motion...he shakes his head negatively.

(...Bullshit...Come on...come on...think...think)

I turn to look at the bridge as i lean on the railing...both sides were lifted to about...sixty degrees?...

(...Hmm...it's not 'Too' far to jump...not for me at least...would probably end up on the metal scaffolding under the bridge at worse...but i can climb that...the problem is...I don't think that all of us can make that jump...Shizuka and Saya for example...ughh, fuck...we got so far...only to be left hang...ing?)

And then...it hit me...

(...The rope...we have the rope that Kohta picked up!)

I instantly back away from the railing and motion Kohta to move towards the Humvee. After we picked up some distance from the corpses by the bridge, he walked up next to me.

"What's going on? Figured something?" He asks.

"You could say that. The bridge gap, it ain't 'that' big, as both sides aren't completely lifted...so...how about we just jump over the bridge?" I turn to him as i speak.

"Uhh...yea...uhh...you really think that all of us can climb up there and then jump over to the other side..." He 'asks'.

"We can help the ones that can't climb by themselves...and they won't have to jump over...we still have the rope you picked up don't we?" The moment i finish my sentence Kohta eye's light up.

"Holy crap, your right!" He shouts, then brings his hands to his mouth and looks around.

"Uhh, sorry" He says as he looks at me.

"Ehh, doesn't really matter...as i actually have a plan for the corpses as well...and things might get a bit...loud..." I respond. Kohta just...tilted his head.

"There's no real place to hide the Humvee around here...so, we'll 'ask' the corpses to...watch over it for us" I add up as i fold my arms.

"Hmm...that...would make them get away from the bridge...let's see what the others think" Kohta nods as he speaks.

After we reached the car, we got inside and informed the rest...both about the bridge...and the corpses.

"Hmm, well, we got no other choice on the part about crossing the bridge do we?...But uhh...surrounding the car with them...also means we'll have them coming towards us as we try to leave" Takashi responds shortly after i finished explaining.

"Not if we leave fast enough...before they encircle the car" I respond.

"...I guess..." Takashi just puts his hand under his chin as he keeps thinking.

"Well, if anybody has any better ideas, i'm all ears...but if we do go on foot...then we need to make use of all the time we have left" I keep looking at Takashi as i speak.

"...You're right...let's do this then..." Takashi turns to me and nods with a serious expression.

"S...so how do we even do this?" Shizuka asks as she keeps looking at the steering wheel.

"First, hit the horn, then, we exit the car and head straight to bridge, if we can't find an opening, we'll make one using close-range weapons...as shooting a gun will just end up ruining our own plan" I glance at my shotgun before turning to look at Shizuka.

"Ok...we should fill up our bags with some supplies for the trip...in other words...ammo and dynamite. We won't need food, sleeping bags or clothes as we are supposed to get there in less than three hours" Kohta adds right after.

"Actually, i think we better do take some clothes...or you'd rather end up with whatever they have there?...If they have anything at that is...also, take some medicine...now for food...well...i just hope the people there are well-stocked..." I open my bag as i speak and look inside.

"Ohh i have some of the medicine sorted in plastic bags, each bag should have a complete set of the things we might need, we can take a couple of them instead of randomly picking from the heap that we have in the bags" Shizuka turns towards us and points at the duffle bags in the trunk.

...And like that, we emptied our bags and started to refill them.

In mine, i got a good amount of shotgun shells and 9mm's, the extra clip for the P220, some clothes, a flashlight, the combat knife, four plastic bags of medicine and uhh...two sticks of dynamite...with the dynamite actually being in the outside pockets of the bag as they couldn't fit inside...

"I'm set" Kohta closes his bag and lifts his head.

"Ehehe...I got enough ammo to go for weeks..." He says with a silent...and rather creepy chuckle...

"Uhh...yea...i'm set too" I respond as i glance at Kohta.

And one by one, we all finished setting up our bags, though in the end, we decided that Saeko, Rei, Kiriko and Takashi would not take any with them, as they will be the 'front line' and we do want to move as fast as possible.

"Ok, so, we're all set?" Takashi asks.

"Hmm, just one thing...i only got two sticks of dynamite...did anybody take any more?" I ask.

"Uhh, i added a bunch in Shizuka's bag...mine and Asami's...are a bit...full..." Kohta responds.

"I got five in mine...as i also took whatever electronics we had that still worked..along with the textbook and some ammo for the gun" Saya says right after as she turns to look at the MP5.

(Hmm...ok, we should be good then...it's a shame i can't take the trenchcoat with me...as i really like it...but uhh...too noisy...too restricting)

"So...now we're all set?" Takashi asks...after a few seconds of silence...the group nods...

"Ok...Shizuka...hit the horn!" He shouts as he grips his shotgun.

"A...alright!" Shizuka nods and punches the car's horn.

"Come on let's go!" And with Takashi's final shout, we exit the car and run towards the bridge, the four members without bags in the front, the rest following close behind.

The moment we closed in at the corpses that blocked our path. Saeko rushed forward and 'divided' the two closest corpses in her position. She then turns around and waves her arm to us.

(My statement still stands, having Saeko around is like playing with cheat codes...and i'm loving it)

We all run to her and use the opening she created to get next to the bridge.

"Ok, step two, we need to climb up..." Takashi whispers.

"Kohta, got the rope?" I ask. He nods and tosses me the blue synthetic rope.

"Umm...i...am not a very good climber..." Shizuka looks at the bridge as she speaks and makes a sad frown.

"Wait here" I say as i walk up to the corner of the bridge.

(The road itself has a concrete layer so i can't use it to climb up...but...we can use the railing as a 'ladder'...the balusters are a bit far apart though...)

I nod, grab the railing and start climbing up.

"H...hey idiot, not all of us can climb that thing like some sort of monkey" Saya frowns as she looks at me.

"I could climb that though...does that make me a monkey?" Alice asks as she tugs Saya's sleeve.

"Ehh...no, only idiots can be monkeys, besides, you're a munchkin" Saya responds as she pats Alice on the head.

(That...was actually kind of mean...)

I shake my head and 'jump' to the next baluster...then to the next...and the next...until...i was finally at the top. After i steadied my self, I kneel on the edge and look at the other side of the river.

...It looked...clear...in all but one spot...two intersections to the left after the bridge, was a large horde, the one that i saw before.

(Holy crap, from down there i couldn't really make out how big this horde was...well...it's fucking giant...at least we have the dynamite, so it's nothing we can't handle, we can just 'ask' them to go for a freefall into the river...other than that. Hmm... the other side of the river has shorter buildings. Also, all the roads that lead inland, are uphill roads...quite steep ones too...wonder if that's why the buildings there are not as big...looking it from a distance, it does look like they ended up building that section on a rather tall hill...now as for the river...it looks like a twenty to thirty-meter fall from the road)

I turn around and look at the group before tying the rope to the railing i used to climb up, then let it fall. Takashi looks up to me and nods, and one by one, the group climbed up...with Kiriko going under Shizuka as...well...yea, there was a lot of...'pushing'...when Shizuka tried to climb up...the rest...did manage to get up here normally, including Saya.

"Ok...so...now...how do we go over the gap?" Takashi asks after everybody was at the top.

"...It's...very high up...falling from this hight would be..." Shizuka stares at the river below as she trails off, slowly kneeling down and hugging the railing that was next to her.

"It's too far to jump..." Kiriko looks at the other side of the bridge as she speaks.

"I have an idea." I say as i pull the rope up and start wrapping it around my arm.

"...Hey, Naier...you're not thinking of..." Saya stoped in the middle of her sentence as she stared at me.

"Jumping to the other side in order to tie the rope to use as a bridge?...It's...actually easier than it sounds" I say as i finish wrapping the rope around my arm.

"It...is?" Shizuka asks.

"The bridge has a metal scaffolding under it, even if i do miss my target, i'll still end up there...and if all else fails, the rope should keep me from falling into the river" I respond...the group just stayed quiet...yet...i had the feeling ...that Saeko did not seem to 'agree' with my plan...probably because she was staring at me...way too intensely...she didn't speak up though...Saya just stared at me like i was an idiot...you know normal stuff.

(Ok, let's get this over with)

I glance down, lean back...and jump...

It...didn't take too long to realize that i wouldn't be reaching the top of the bridge the way i was going...instead, i ended up 'grabbing' on the scaffolding...in a...not so smooth landing...

(ugh...crud...i think i just pulled my left arm...really need to work on my landings...)

I shake my head and start climbing up once again...

(...And now i feel like a monkey...god damn it Saya. I'll get you for this...)

I chuckle and keep climbing, ignoring my left arm while it was trying to my life hard...until...i was finally at the top.

"Nothing to it" I say in a silent voice as i take the rope off, pass it around the metal railing and pull it until it was completely stretched, then tie it up and turn towards the group.

"Alright, Kohta! I expect that you know how to 'use' this! So explain it to the rest!" Kohta salutes at me and turns to the others as he starts talking...telling them how to fold their legs and how to hang while they're upside down...among other things.

(...This is still risky...but we don't have much of a choice left...or time...and well...i can't think of anything else...also... does Kohta always respond with a salute when you half order him to do something?)

The first one to pass...was Alice...who...well...i think? was having fun?...she was giggling from start to finish...yep, she is definitely a monkey alright...Then was Saeko, who also got here effortlessly, followed by Asami, who believe it or not, managed just fine...sometimes i forget this girl is a trained cop...Rei and Kiriko passed after, both without any real trouble, then followed by Takashi...leaving...Saya, Shizuka and Kohta...

"Saya, make sure to keep your legs crossed and..."

"I'm not stupid, i can do this" She cuts Kohta off as she glances at me and grabs the rope...then turns to stare at the river below...

"Uhh...I know it's too late to ask now..but...why nobody took Saya's and Shizuka's bag when they passed?" I ask as i turn to the group that was already on this side...they all just...looked at each other...

(...Must i think of everything here?...i just hope the extra weight won't be a problem for them...)

I turn my head to Saya, only to see that she was already midway on the rope.

"..If my glasses fall, I'm holding you responsible Naier!" She grumbles as she slowly keeps moving closer...until, she finally reached us...

"Ok Shizuka, you're next" I hear Kohta say on the other side of the bridge.

"Umm...you should go first Kohta...i..." Shizuka keeps glancing behind her as she speaks...

"Miss Shizuka, don't worry you will do just fine" Kohta responds...

"No...it's not that...well...it is...B...but...if i go first...then...you'll see my underwear...I'm...wearing a skirt" She responds as she blushes...

"Uhh...well..." Kohta also blushes as his eyes start to 'wander'.

(...Wait...Saeko and Rei are also wearing skirts...does that mean that everybody on the other had them in full view?...Though...to be honest...Saeko's 'skirt' makes it hard NOT to see her underwear...even when she's just standing still...and Rei...well honestly i don't care...)

"Oh and please take Zeke too" Shizuka then hands the dog over to Kohta without waiting for his response.

"O...ok..." Kohta nods, take's the dog, puts it in his vest and grabs the rope...and easily comes over to our side...and the moment his feet touched 'solid' ground...

"I really want to punch you in the face for being a pervert...but you might end up falling...so give me Zeke and your bag...so i can punch you in the face for being a pervert" Saya glares at him as she leans her upper body toward him and puts her hands on her hips.

"W..what? But...i didn't look..." Kohta lowers his head slightly

"..Am i...not good enough...Kohta?..." Asami...then takes what must have been the best 'puppy eyes' face i have seen for quite some time...and keeps staring at Kohta...

While that was going on, i turn to look at Shizuka...she...had climbed up...but was not moving...she was just hanging there, upside down, hugging the rope...about...one-fifth of the distance...

"Come Shizuka! You can do it! Hooo!" Alice lifts her hand in the air and shouts...i guess she was also not paying attention to Kohta and Asami.

Shizuka, with her eyes tightly shut, nods and starts to slowly move forward...only to stop about halfway again...

"I...it's shaking too much! I'm scared!" She shouts as she hugs the rope again...

"Come on Shizuka! You're almost there!" Takashi shouts...Shizuka opens her eyes and looks at the rope that was pretty much touching her nose.

"H..hey...this part of the rope looks like a flower..." She says as she stares at the rope.

"A what now?" I ask as i tilt my head...

"A flower, the threads are opening up like a flower...it actually looks kind of prAAAHHH!..." Shizuka...didn't even manage to finish her sentence...as the rope snapped right in front of her eyes. I just...stared as she disappeared below the bridge.

"SHIZUKA!" Takashi's screams as everybody rushes to look over the edge.

The moment we looked below, we saw Shizuka hanging from the rope as she kept flailing her legs.

"I don't like this!" She shouts as she keeps flailing about.

"Shizuka are you alright?!" Takashi yells.

"Oouuu...I...can't do this!..." she looks down as she keeps holding on the rope...

"Let go of your bag Shizuka, it will lighten your load!" I shout.

"B..but we have things inside..." Shizuka responds as she looks up.

(Are you for real?!)

"If you fall the bag falls with you! Drop it and try to get your legs on the scaffolding!" I say as i grab the rope.

"O..ok.." Shizuka nods and lets go of the rope with one arm, letting the bag slide of her shoulder before grabbing the rope again.

"Grab the rope! Two of you stay near the edge so you can grab her, MOVE YOUR ASSES!" I shout as i finish wrapping the rope around my arm once again, untie it, and let my self fall backward. Jumping off the edge in the opposite direction from Shizuka, before i would end up falling forward with her.

And i then, started to slowly descend, in other words. Shizuka was being pulled up.

(Come on...come on...)

i glanced behind me as i kept going down...

(...For real now?)

I groan as i look at the corpses right under me...there must have been about...five of them?

(I don't have time for this shit.)

I grab the shotgun, aim it behind me...

And pull the trigger.

(So)

Again.

(Piss)

Again.

(The)

Again.

(FUCK)

Again.

(OFF)

Needless to say, aiming with one hand made the gun jump around like a fish out of the water each time i pulled the trigger...none the less, all the corpses under me, fell to the floor motionless.

"Naier are you alright?!" Saeko pops up her head up from over the edge and looks at me.

"Help Shizuka, I can handle this!" I shout.

"We already brought her up! She is alright!" She responds...i take a deep breath...and then let out a huge sigh...

(...Ughh...there goes another three years out of my life...still...glad she's ok...Especially now that i don't know if their...plot armor still applies...)

"These gunshots will attract too many of them, we need to go down and move away from the bridge right now" Kohta speaks up right after as he appears on the edge.

"Get down then, I'll deal with the ones that get too close." I respond as i let go of the rope and land on one of the corpses.

(Ohh your asses better be really 'dead' right now)

I grab the fallen corpse i landed on and toss it over the railing, into the river, then grab the second nearest by the foot and drag it away, while in the meantime, Kohta started climbing down.

"Ok, let's see, five shots fired. So i got four left in the gun" I turn to look at the corpses that were walking down the uphill road that was ahead of me.

(They are too close to the intersection, they will overtake it by the time everybody is down)

I take my bag off and open it, then take a couple of shotgun shells and reload the gun before shoving another couple in my pockets. I nod, get up, and walk towards the corpses, leaving the bag behind.

"Ok...So, who wants to re-die first?" I 'ask' as i stop and lift the shotgun.

To answer that question...it was some middle-aged office worker that was missing a...rather big part of his lower body...don't really want to know how he ended up like that to be honest...

I pull the trigger...and the office worker gets sent flying back losing an even bigger part of his upper body. And before that one could touch the ground, i was aiming to my left, pulling the trigger and sending another corpse flying back. Followed then by a shot to my right.

"Saya! Do you still have the five dynamites?" I shout without turning to look behind me.

"Yes! You will use yours now?" She shouts back. I glance to my left and see the horde that was two intersections away...they...were already moving towards us...

"Yes, we already got everything coming towards us, we can at least make one side piss off" I respond as i turn around...only to see Saya over my bag, with a stick already in her hand. Saeko was also already down, along with Kiriko and Shizuka, with Shizuka sitting on the ground, her head lowered and her eyes closed. Takashi was on the rope, Rei under him.

"Naier catch!" Saya shouts as she throws me the stick.

(Saya, you deserve a head pat)

I let go of the shotgun and grab the dynamite, then take the lighter out of my pocket.

"Once we're all down we will head towards the horde! We will use the second dynamite to make them fall into the river!" I shout as i light up the fuse and turn towards the uphill road...

(ok...i...always wanted to say this...)

"E.D.F!" I pull my hand back and toss the dynamite towards the street...and a few seconds later, an explosion went off next to a car...leading to a second explosion from the car it self...that ended up flipping over and crashing on the roof of the car that was in front of it...

"Uhh...note to self...never shout E.D.F when throwing explosives...it increases the chance for collateral damage...and alien invasions from giant bugs...obviously..."I chuckle as i turn around and head back to the group.

After picking up my bag...i glance at Shizuka, who was still on the ground...

"Can you walk?" I ask as i walk up to her and kneel down...she just nods without looking at me.

"Umm...I'm sorry about the bag" She says she keeps looking down.

"Come on Shizuka, who even gives a crap about the bag" I respond as i tilt my head slightly.

"Yea, we're all just glad that you're safe, so chin up." Kiriko, who was sitting next to her says right after me.

"We'd rather have you instead than the bag Shizuka, so don't worry" Takashi, who had climbed down the bridge speaks up as he stops next to us.

"Ohh, i bet you do" Rei says with a slight smirk as she narrows her eyes.

"Rei..." Takashi just turns to stare at her.

"...I know, i know, I'm just kidding..." Rei responds as she glances away.

"Well i don't mean to be the elephant here, but we need to move. Corpses from both the left and right side of the intersection are heading here, we need to go left before we end up blocked off" I say as i get up and turn around.

"Y...yes...everything will be over after we reach the school...i really want to take a warm bath right now...umm...by the way...what's an edf?" Shizuka nods and finally gets up with Kiriko's help...then turns to look at me.

"Uhh...over the top bug exterminators..." I respond with a shrug.

"You can see that we have a giant horde to are left right?" Saya turns to look at me as she speaks.

"Yea, i will use the second dynamite on the horde, so have yours on the ready" I say as we start moving. Saya nodded at me without speaking back.

In the end, we managed to pass the first intersection to our left before we ended up getting blocked off by the marching horde.

"There are...so many of them...what do you think might have happened here?" Asami asks.

"I got...absolutely no idea...uhh...maybe it is an 'old' horde, so maybe it managed to get this big by attracting stray corpses...i do know why they will be leaving though..." I answer as i take the second dynamite out of the bag's side pocket and light it up.

I take a few running steps and toss the dynamite next to the horde and towards the river that was to my left.

The dynamite flew in an ark, past the horde and towards the long drop that led to the river. Though it ended up exploding before it could even disappear under the street.

(Mr. Torgue would be so proud of me right now.)

The whole horde halted, and turned to the left, straight towards a twenty-meter drop into the river.

Or well...that was the plan at least...as...instead of going for a free dive, they ended up getting stuck on the W - beam guard rail...

"Really now?...Ughh...Whose smart idea was it to make the railing this frigging high? Are these types of guardrail even supposed to be this tall?" i groan as i look at the corpses.

"There are way too many of them there, we still can't pass through the road...and we can't wait until they either somehow fall over the railing, or squeeze to the left...as that blast just made everything that was behind us to start crawling towards us" Takashi shakes his head as he looks at the horde, then glances behind us.

"W..what do we do?" Asami asks.

"The last intersection we passed, corpses there should have moved towards the left part of the road" I turn around and point at the intersection that was a little further off.

"Yea, let's go, before they block it off." Takashi nods as he motions us with his hand and starts running.

Luckily, we were able to get near the intersection before too many corpses had managed to shamble past it.

"Ignore them! If we spend too much time here we'll get blocked off, just run past them!" Takashi shouts as he runs to the right corner of the road, aims at the nearest corpse and fires a shot from his shotgun.

"We will go from the left side!" He shouts again as he, along with the rest of us used the opening to run past whatever corpse was in front of us. After we reached the next intersection, we turned left and headed up the road that did indeed have most of the corpses shuffling towards the left part of the street...

"After we reach the next intersection we will go either left, or keep going straight. Depending on which of the two roads is safer to move in" Takashi whispers as we keep walking up the uphill road.

One we reached the intersection we checked the two mentioned roads...

Both had corpses on them, but the left one had most of them on the left side of the road. While the one that continued straight had them coming straight towards us...i guess the blast was too far away to make them turn left, as it instead seemed to make them head down the road.

"I say left" I whisper. The group nods and turns to walk towards the left...

"...The road that continues straight ahead after the next intersection seems to be blocked...if we turn left there, we'll end up straight in the horde...so...we'll go right" Takashi says as he glances at the distant intersection.

(Good thing these things are blind...i don't know how many times we used this trick to pass an otherwise 'dangerous' road..)

The moment we reach the intersection, we turned right.

"Oh come on..." Kohta groans as he stares the road...

Corpses...crashed cars...hell even part of the road had given way...yea...we were not going that way...

"...Shit, we can't go from this road either..." Takashi takes a few steps back.

(The corpses here are also moving towards the dynamite and, or shotgun blast..meaning the ones in the road to our right are coming right at us...at least the car wrecks block them off from flooding this intersection)

"So we go back?...the road by the river we took is probably crawling with them now..." Kiriko turns to look behind us.

"And that leaves only one intersection free, the one we just turned left to in order to come here...honestly though, that one didn't look any better than this one here..." Saya folds her arms as she looks at the distant intersection behind us.

"Could we use a car and crash it into the railing below? The road is pretty steep so it should pick up a decent amount of speed if we just let it roll down the road. Maybe it can rip a hole in the fence..." I ask as i turn to look at the horde on the downhill road to our left.

"...It's Possible...but...i need to ask...are you ideas always this wreckless?..." Kiriko turns to me as she speaks.

"This idiot? He never had a safe idea for as long as we know him..." Saya says as she narrows her eyes and looks at me.

"Hey, i had safe ideas...i just can't remember any in order to prove my point right now" I respond as i shrug.

"Well if we have a plan then we better put it into motion, the longer we stay here the worse it will get, there are corpses everywhere" Kohta lifts his gun and aims through the scope.

"We have no other road that can lead forward, let's do that." Takashi nods and turns to look at me.

"Uhh..Ok...car cannonball it is then" I scan the nearby cars as i speak. The intersection was pretty wide and i could see several cars scattered around...my eyes stopped on a nearby empty blue sedan. It was left right next to the road that went downhill, no corpses in the way, and its doors were wide open...

I run to the car and pull the handbrake down...

"Saeko, Rei, Miss Kiriko. We will hold off any of them that get too close, no guns though, or we'll cause ones on the two unblocked roads to come straight to us, the rest, push the car" Takashi points at the car as he turns to look at the road we used to come here. The group then quickly moves to his order...and once the rest were by the car, we pushed it towards the downhill road, until it started to roll by itself...

(Ok...now we wait...)

The car started to pick up speed...

Only to sway to the right and crash right into another car...about thirty meters down the road.

"It turned by it self...of course it would turn by itself..." I groan as i look at the car...

"Crap...this was too loud, everything is looking at us! Naier we need a new plan!" Takashi shouts as he looks at the corpses on the road to our left...

"Uhh...crap...Ok, uhh, Saya, give me a stick of dynamite, we will throw it towards the road we used to come here, that should stop the corpses from that road...at least temporarily, then the only threat will be from the downhill road as the other two roads are blocked by wrecks" As i speak Saya nods takes off her bag, opens it and tosses me a stick of dynamite. That i instantly light up and toss to my left.

The blast made the corpses that Takashi was looking at to change direction. He then motions the rest around him to follow him as he runs back to us.

"Ok, that bought us some time, whats next?" Takashi asks.

"Uhh...the road that goes uphill is a no go, it's in horrible state...backtracking is also going to be much harder as corpses there are all over the place now...and the road in the opposite side is also blocked...all we have left is this... "I say as i turn to look at the downhill road...

"...Uhh...is the horde...coming towards us?..." Shizuka asks as she stares at the bottom of the road...and...

"...They...are moving up the road...that dynamite blast probably made the ones that were not blocked by a house or wall to walk up the road" Saya responds...

"...Great...throwing that dynamite just trapped us all in here...nice plan Naier" Rei says with a sarcastic voice...the rest...just didn't respond to her statement...

(Great...should i take the silence as a fact that they agree with her?...well...now i'm sure that they are NOT going to like what i'm about to say next...)

"...We can use another car...but somebody needs to keep the steering wheel steady..." The moment i say this the group turns and looks at me like i said a bad joke...a very...VERY bad joke.

"What?! Have you gone completely crazy?! That's equal to suicide! There are too many of them down there! And they are also crawling up the street now! By the time the driver can jump off the car they will be rolling in them!" Saya shouts...

"I am open to ideas..." I respond calmly as i fold my arms.

"We can use the dynamites to make them change direction, i have..."

"The only road we can take by using dynamite is the one we came from, and everything is already heading towards us from that direction, we only have four of them left...and we'll probably have to use more than one just to pass the road we used...all of that, just to backtrack one road, and what if the intersection after that is..." I cut off Saya...

"I'll go with the car" Only to be cut off by Takashi.

"Like hell you are! This whole mess was not your idea to begin with!" Rei shouts...and the whole group finally turns to her.

"What! This isn't even the first time he puts the group in danger! If somebody should go, then it should be him!" She points at me as she shouts.

(...Holy shit...Rei...must really not give a single fuck about me..and while this 'is' my fault. Talk about no breaks...the moment push comes to shove she really becomes self a self-centered cookie...but...well...Takashi 'is' the 'love of her life'...even if she dumped him for Hisashi because...because i don't fucking know...)

As i think, Saeko quickly walks past me with her sword drawn...and straight towards Rei.

(Oh holy crap!)

I grab her shoulder and turn her around...only to meet with a glaring face...

"Focus, this isn't going to fix anything...she isn't in the wrong after all" I say as i stare at her...she just...keeps staring at me.

And...a shot echoed...

"If you guys got time to argue then make a damn decision! We're out of time here!" Kohta shouts as he glances at us before turning to look back at the corpses that were now crawling in the intersection.

"So...are you telling me that i should just accept...that you are going to go down with the car...Naier you promised me! " Saeko puts her free hand between her chest and leans towards me as she starts shouting.

(...This...must be the very first time that i see Saeko lose her composure...)

"Sae..."

"You...are not talking me out of this Naier, if you'll go, i'm coming with you...sadly...this is my decision to make...not yours. Let's just say that...you pulled the short straw in the matter" She smiles slightly as she keeps looking at me.

(...Was that a side jab?...i did say something like that to her in the clinic...)

"Uhh...the sword...i don't think the sheath is going to stop water from seeping in...Takashi, i'm leaving the shotgun and whatever shells i have here. i'll take the handguns, got some plastic bags in my bag from the medicine, i'll put them in there to avoid any water from getting into them...while the river shouldn't be sea water...i still don't want them getting drenched...and yea, Saya is right, there is no way to jump off the car and not get surrounded if we want it to hit the rail...so...we won't exit the car.." I take off my bag and then remove the sling along with the shotgun and hand it to Takashi...Saeko...kept looking at her sword...before she also walked up to Takashi and gave it to him...

"I will get the sword back after we get back out" As Saeko spoke...the...main problem came to mind...

(How...are going to get back up?...We can't just 'climb' twenty meters of vertical wall...)

"Ok, we can use that silver sedan that's over there then" Saya runs up to a nearby car and opens the front and back door.

(Hmm...the sea is not anywhere near here...so we can't hope for a beach...and both sides of the river are pretty much surrounded by a tall cement wall for as far as i could see...we could have...used the rope...but it snapped...and we can't go back there anyway...maybe there is a ladder somewhere on the wall...but i didn't check, i don't know if it has one, or where...and...there's another thing. Being it a 'river'...there'll be a current that will push us away if we take too long...

Ughh...God...fuck...didn't take me too long to fuck up the moment we went past the manga...what a fucking joke...)

I start running towards the car that Saya was at as i let out a silent sigh...

(Wait...'we' can use the sedan?...Ohhh no...)

"The windows are open...i know it sounds stupid...i mean...it is an idea you had after all...but...it might be safer to just fall with the car and exit after we are inside the river...from what i saw while we climbed the bridge, it must be about...fiften...twenty meters in hight?...Well? Stop staring at me and help me!" Saya shouts as she tries to push the car by her self.

"Uhh...you might be right...but..uhh...why do you keep saying we?" I ask as i reach the car and start pushing it.

"I...have to make sure that you won't ruin my gun..." She responds...

"...If you're that worried about the gun i can just give it t..." I turn to look at Saya...yet before i could even finish, She was already glaring at me with her cheeks all puffed up.

"...Saya, i don't even know how we'll get back up yet, i don't know 'if' we can get back up yet. Y..."

"Yet you let Saeko come with you...why won't you let me...I'm not just dead weight you know!" She cuts me off as she starts shouting again...

(Well...shit...)

"You...better leave the Mp5 then..." I respond as i turn to look at the road...the only thing i could hear now, was corpse moaning...and gunshots...

(I know...i know that i normally...i should flat out deny anything they tell me, even if they are right...i shouldn't let them come with me...but...)

The moment we bring the car next to the downhill road.

"Ok...We will follow the car as it goes down the hill...this intersection is starting to crawl with them...after that we'll..."

"...Guys, I really don't want to be 'that' guy here...BUT HURRY UP!" Kohta cuts Takashi off as he shouts while changing the magazine of his gun.

"Right...i'll check the horn...but i don't think it'll work...so don't count on it" I enter the car as Saeko slide across the hood and enters the passenger's seat...

"Saeko...are you su..."

"Yes Naier, i am sure...if you didn't want me to be like this...then you shouldn't have done to me...what you did in the clinic..." She responds as she turns to look at me with a smile...

"Huh?! W...What did you do to her?!" I hear the back door slam as the car started to move...i glance behind me only to see Saya glaring at me.

"...Fasten your seatbelts...and have the windows open...this might get...this will get...ugly..." I say in a deadpan voice as i turn to look at the road ahead...

(...You know...i should be mad at my self...that i'm letting my self allow these two to be in here...but...well...yea...i'm actually happy that they rather be 'in' the car...rathen than stay behind it...)

As the car starts rolling down the road, i open my bag...then take the handgun that Saya gave me along with the P220 and throw them in the bag before giving it to Saeko.

"It should have some plastic bags in there, empty them and put the handgun and magazines inside...and Saya, you might want to put your glasses there too..." I glance at the rearview mirror as i speak.

Saya didn't not answer, but took the bag and placed her glasses inside none the less...then...i heard duct tape...a lot...of duct tape...

"I sealed the bags with everything they could fit in...this...better work...i'll kill you if this doesn't work" Saya closes the bag and hugs it, leaving hers on the seat next to her.

(Not if i die first...)

And as the car picked up speed and started to close in to the horde...i pressed on the horn...only to come back with a negative result...

(Figures)

I then steer the car slightly to the right, so it would not hit the 'center' of the horde...it needed to have enough force to still crash though the fence after all...and seconds later...the first 'roadkill'...followed by a path carved right through the corpses...and then, the car crashed...right through the railing...

And while the car was in the air...i saw a ladder...straight ahead of us...then...i saw blue...

(Oh man...this is...hands down...THE most stupid idea i had so far!)

And right as i felt the car's front impact against the water...i realized...that i didn't wear my seatbelt...and...the world went black...


	35. Uncalculated Outcome

...Ughh...why do i feel...drenched. Like i'm warped in wet towels, hell, even my frigging pillow feels moist...how did i end up sweating so much? It's not even summer yet...

I shake my head and bring my hand to my face...and realize...that i wasn't wearing my headgear...

(...Huh...i remembered to take it off this time?...That's weird...because i don't remember going to slee...)

And in a flash, it all came rushing back to me...the horde, the car...the river...and the two girls that came along with me...

(Shit!...Saeko! Saya!)

I shake my head again, this time more violently and open my eyes. Only to close them again as i felt a jolt of pain run through my forehead...

"...Ugh...the...hell..." I groan as i try to get up...

"Naier!...Don't...make sudden movements...you were out cold for quite some time...and...don't worry. We're all...fine..." A female voice that felt as if it were next to me speaks up...

I lower my head again...and come to another realization...that my head was indeed, not touching the ground...

I finally open my eyes...and come face to face with Saeko...who was leaning over me with a concerned expression...and judging from her posture...my head was not on the ground, because it was on her thighs...

"Ughh...how long...was i out..." I ask as i turn to stare at the sky and bring my hand to my forehead...

"A long time...the...extraction must have already happened by now...i saw helicopters pass in the distance..." I hear another voice...and after turning to it, i see Saya...

"...What?..." I just...stare at her as i ask.

"You...passed out after the car hit the water...and i...i couldn't swim against the current with you my back...we...ended up drifting here..." Saeko responds with a calm voice.

I...get up to a sitting position...and turn to stare at the ground as i process what Saeko just said to me...

(We...missed the extraction?...Because 'I' passed out?...The...hell?...Are you fucking kidding me?...I...shit...shit i fucking knew it...i knew i shouldn't have let these two come with me. Now we're all screwed...What...was i thinking?...was i even fucking thinking?!...Fuck...Fuck,Fuck,FUCK!)

"FUCK!" I end up shouting as i throw the hardest slap i could muster against my knee...then bring my hand to my forehead as i close my eyes and grind my teeth...

"What are you shouting for...we're still alive...aren't we?" Saya speaks up without turning to look at me...The way...she just calmly spoke while hugging her knees like that...honestly...it pissed me off...but...

(...Uhh...whatever you do...don't...shout again...especially not at them...this is your fault...they lost their biggest chance to escape this hell...because of you...because of me...last think i'm allowed to do is lash out at them)

"...Shit...i knew i shouldn't have let you two come along...now we're all s..."

"You really don't understand a thing! Do you!" Saya's shout caused me to turn my head to her. Her eyes looked...red. She was...crying?...

She then gets up and walks a little further off on the small sandbank we were on.

"Great...just...great..." I whisper in a low tone and let out a deep breath.

"Naier...The reason she cried, wasn't the missed extraction..." Saeko whispers to my ear as she gets up...I just...tilt my head as i glance at her.

"After we drifted here...we...tried to wake you up...but...you wouldn't respond...no matter how much we tried...you just...didn't react" Saeko then looks at my mask.

"I will say this, just in case you have any doubts...i'm not mad at you...and neither is Saya...both of ended up here, by our own free will..." While Saeko kept speaking, I narrowed my eyes and silently kept staring at the ground...she...looked at me for a few seconds, before letting out a small sigh...

"Naier...a man must never lose faith in himself...for if he can't believe himself...then others won't be able to believe in him either...and...i don't want to stop believing...you gave me a reason to go on...so don't...take this away from me now...not when i need it the most...it's not just your life that you'll forfeit if you give up..." She then extends her hand with my headgear...

"Uhh...you...really know how to drive it in don't you..." I smile slightly as i breathe through my nose...then take the mask and balaclava, wear them, and slowly get up...Saeko just...chuckles.

"It's my duty as a woman...and...to be truthful...i just...don't want to be alone again...i hated it...i still do" She responds with a forced smile...

"Point...taken...sorry i made you worry...so...what's our situation..." I ask as i take a deep breath and look around...

"...First...i think you need to remind one more person...that she didn't risk her life for no reason..." She then motions towards Saya with her head, who still had her back turned to us...her arms folded and her head slightly hunched...

"...Are...the guns safe?" I ask as i look at Saeko...she responds with a nod.

"The bags still closed?" I ask again, this time she shakes her head.

"No...we opened them...and the duct tape ended up ripping the bags...sorry" She points at the plastic bags that were a few meters away, with the guns still 'inside' them...

"Hmm...it's alright, i'll figure out a way to move them when the time comes...but for now...i have another plan" I walk to the bag as i speak and take the Luger...

(Ok...i actually got no idea how to go on about this...but...Saeko is right, wallowing in self-pity is not going to help me, or them...not doing anything ain't going to fix our current situation...not for the better at least)

After taking the gun, i walk up to Saya...who...didn't react, even after i stopped next to her. She just kept staring at the river, her arms tightly folded under her chest...at least her eyes were no longer that red. I turn to look at the gun...and then slightly extend my arm, until the Luger was in front of her...She just glanced at it without saying anything...keeping her arms tightly folded.

"The only reason i said that i didn't want you to come with me, was because i was afraid that i might get you killed...not because i don't want you with me...to honest...i do...want you to come with me...and not just because you'll be able to see things that i can't" As i speak Saya turns to look at the gun again.

"Huhhh...Saeko's...right..." She takes the gun in her hands and turns to look at me.

"You 'are'...a stupid sweet talker..." She says with a mumbling voice, then turns around and walks towards Saeko...who was holding the bokken i had strapped on my bag in her hand...

"Huh...whaaa...Uhh...what?" I turn to look at the two girls as i tilt my head.

(...Saeko...called me that when we were alone in the house...didn't she?...So if Saya knows that...then this means...)

"Uhh...why i get the feeling that you two know something that i'm not aware of..." I say as i keep looking at them.

...Saya...turns to look away with a slight frown...Saeko...just brings her hand to her mouth with a slight giggle...

"That's...a secret between girls..." She responds with a smile...

(Ohh...They 'talked' alright... i feel like i just stepped in an active minefield...)

"...Naier...are you...sure you're alright now?" Saeko asks right after, causing Saya to also turn her head towards me.

"...Yea...i'm fine, don't worry. So...uhh, how do we get out of here..." I turn to look around me as my voice trails off...

(Right now we're stuck on a small sandbank in the middle of the river...with the walls around us still as tall as ever...)

"The river looks clear now...maybe we can swim to the ladder that is a little further down the river" Saeko speaks up as she points to a ladder that was behind me on the wall at the right side of the river.

"...Clear?..." I ask.

"...While you were off to dreamland we had to watch as a river of corpses marched right past us...just be glad that the current didn't let them drift on this sandbank..." Saya responds as she folds her arms.

"I...see...one more thing...we came from 'this' way?" I point straight ahead, behind the two girls. Saya turns around, then looks back at me and nods...

"Hmm...in that case...that ladder won't do" I add up as i turn around behind me and look at the ladder that Saeko mentioned.

"Huh...why's that?" Saya asks.

"That ladder will lead to the road that the Humvee is on...and...well...even if we're too late for the extraction. I still think we need to go towards the school first." I put my hand under my chin as i speak.

"Hmm? How come?" Saeko was the next one to ask.

"...The extraction might be over, but the people there might have left information on what to do in case people arrived there too late...like another extraction spot...or supplies...seeing as the extraction did not happen too long ago...that place might still have stuff worth taking" As i finish speaking the girls look at each other for a few seconds...they then turn to me and nod.

"...Hmm...well...i 'can' see a ladder on the wall that's on the landmass that the school is on...but it's a bit far.." Saeko then points behind me again.

I turn around and look to where Saeko was pointing...and true enough, there was a ladder on the wall we needed to take further down the river...much...further down the river...if the nearby ladder was ten or twenty meters away the other was two hundred or two hundred and fifty meters away...normally nothing 'that' horrible, but...we had to also move the guns somehow...

I turn to look at the ripped plastic bags and notice that my bag was also there...could not see Saya's bag anywhere though.

"Is my bag the only one we got?" I ask.

"That's what i was already holding when we exited the car, not my fault" Saya speaks up right after as she looks away with a slight pout.

"Never blamed you...hmm...does it have any plastic bags left?" I ask once again.

"Only the one with the ammo inside...the other three had the handguns...also...can i have the holster for my gun?" Saya walks up to me and extends her free arm.

"Yea...but you are not holding on to the gun just yet" Saya tilts her head and frowns at me after hearing my response.

"Huh, why? You said..."

"We need to get the guns to the ladder...so...we'll put them back in the bag, tie the bag to the top of the bokken, and then go swimming..." I cut Saya off...

"Uhhh...Why do you have to make everything so complex?...we can just hold the bag out of the water by hand you know" Saya responds as she folds her arms and raises an eyebrow.

"In either case...we have to move, we gain nothing by staying here" Saeko adds up right after...

And so, we started to...'pack up'...

"Still don't know why we have to tie the bag to the bokken...also...you sure bounced back fast from your 'woe is me' state..." Saya, while kneeling down next to me. Speaks up with a slight smirk as she places the Luger in the bag.

"Crying about it ain't gonna help...if it's my fault that you two ended up here, then all i have to do, is make sure that you two survive until you get another chance" I answer without turning to look at her.

"...Don't...say it like that...you make it sound like you don't care if you your self survives or not...i didn't risk my life just to see you die like an idiot...get that in your stupid head before you do something idiotic..." She responds as she glances at me...

"I agree with Saya, if you have the idea that 'saving' us by sacrificing your self is one of your options...then get it out of your head...because it's not an option...you'll do more harm than good if you do that..." Saeko adds up as she closes the bag, unfastens the lower part of the shoulder harnesses and wraps them around the bokken, before finally locking part of the wooden blade on the side straps. She then gets up and lifts the broken over her head...

"Uhh, yea...wrong wording, didn't mean it like that..and ahh...looks a bit funny...but it works" I say as i look at the bag that was hanging on the top of the bokken like some sort of overweight flag...

"Works better than a certain idiot's mask" Saya glances at me before turning to look at the bokken again.

"The who what now?" I ask as i get up.

"It didn't stop you from passing out" Saya folds her arms and turns to me.

"Yea...that's true...i guess" I respond as i tilt my head slightly.

"Yea, so take it o.."

"Yea...no...nice try Saya..." I cut her off as i turn around and head towards the edge of the sandbank.

"I can't see the street that the ladder ends up on...no idea if it has corpses chilling up there..." I fold my arms as i look at the ladder in the distance.

"I should go first then, i am the most proficient in close combat...and we have only one close-range weapon left" Saeko walks up next to me as she speaks.

"Two, i always have a combat knife in the bag, as i have no sheath for it..." I respond as i point at the bag.

"But yea, using it is like trying to stick my finger in a corpse's mouth..." I add up.

"So i go first with the bag and bokken? If there are any of them...any corpses nearby, i will leave the bag and deal with them after i got up" Saeko turns towards me and tilts her head slightly.

"Hmm...just don't go too crazy" I respond as i nod.

"Only as crazy as you usually go" She grins ever slightly as she answers.

"Yea...no...don't..." I respond as i shake my head.

"So only you're allowed to make others get worried about you?" Saya almost shoves her self between me and Saeko as she leans forward until her frowning face was in my field of view.

"Well...uh...frigging...trap questions" I respond in a low tone as i turn to look towards the ladder.

"What was that? I didn't hear you~" Saya grins and leans even more towards me.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" I ask as i glance at her.

"Well, you can't seem to come up with any of your usual idiotic comebacks, so yea...i'm enjoying this" She responds with the grin still on her face.

"Uhh...in any case... let's get going" I shake my head as i turn to look the clean blue river.

"...I'd...rather not get all wet again...but there's not much we can do about it" Saeko responds as she starts walking into the river.

(...All...wet...wrong images in my head again...huh...to think that a few minutes ago i was going for a total breakdown. I...really should be thankful for the way these two handled this. Regardless whether letting them come was the right choice or not...they want to be here...and that's what matters...i at least want to believe that...)

"Oh...and by the way...you better not start staring after we get out..." Saya glances at me multiple times as she speaks...then turns to stare at the river.

"The clothes in the bag, did you take them out to dry the first time the bag got into the water?" I ask, seemingly ignoring Saya's 'warning'.

"The ones that got soaked yes, i kept the bag out of the water...as much as i could...but exiting a sinking car while trying to figure out what to do with a sleeping princess isn't exactly...easy" She turns to me as she lifts an eyebrow and smirks.

"True...and thanks for the rescue" I answer.

"Hum...well...i did say that you would not survive a day without me...guess i'll just have to keep saving your sorry butt" She responds with a huff and a slight smirk as she folds her arms and looks slightly away from me.

(Wasn't it Saeko that carried me though?...yea...i'm not saying that...let her enjoy the moment...)

"Heh...in any case...what i wanted to say is, you can change into the clothes we have in the bag." I turn to look at Saeko as i finish talking. She was now swimming in the river, the bokken with the bag giving out her position like some sort of weird-ass snorkel.

"Well, let's get going..." I nod and walk into the river.

(I should at least keep my head out)

With the rivers current...i didn't really have to swim, i just drifted until i reached the ladder...which, by the time i reached...Saeko was already on and on the last steps, looking at the street above us.

"We are in luck, the street is clear" Saeko turns to look at me as i grab the ladder.

"Good, let's get going" I answer as i turn to look at Saya, who was some meters away from me into the river.

I extend my arm after i climb up a couple of steps. Saya took my arm before grabbing on the ladder her self.

"If you look up right now...i will kick you back into the river after we get up" She whispers to me as she keeps staring over my shoulder...

"Is it because Saeko is wearing a skirt?" I ask casually.

"Of course it's because Saeko is wearing a skirt you pervert!" She shouts as she glares at me.

"Saya, don't shout, we don't know if there are any of them...any corpses nearby" Saeko speaks up as she climbs up the ladder and then turns to look at us.

"I..it's not my fault...Naier was being a pervert" Saya grumbles.

"I'm pretty sure i did not do or say anything perverted though..." I tilt my head as i start climbing up...

After we all got up Saeko took the bag off and handed it to me...while i...uhh...

(Uhh ok...now i know...why Saya said not to stare...but...uhh...is this...how Takashi felt from...'that'...view)

And then, my head jerked forward...as somebody slapped it from behind...

"Pervert...Saeko...you might want to...cover your self..." Saya groans as she moves past me and points at Saeko's chest...

Saeko tilts her head questionably and lowers her head...looking at her school shirt which was now...pretty much see though...making her purple lace bra very uhh...visible...

"I'm...leaving the bag here...take some dry clothes from there" I turn around and look down the river as i take off my jacket and leave it on the railing.

And after some...shuffling...i hear the bag open...

"H...hey Saeko, what are you doing?" I hear Saya speak up in a hushed tone...

"What do you mean?" Saeko asks back in a normal voice.

"W..why are you taking...that...off..." She asks back.

"...Hmm? well, they're drenched, what's the point of changing clothes if i have wet underwear?" Saeko answers casually...

"WAaaa, don't say it out loud..." Saya 'whispers'...

(...Wait...does this mean...That Saeko is actually completely naked behind me...is there...a mirror around here?...uhh...focus)

"Ughh...i hate the fact that you're right though..." I hear Saya groan.

"Why are you so embarrassed?...Nobody is watching, and...you actually have a really nice body, you got no reason to be so embarrassed" Saeko replies...

"...H...hey...w...whaaayy!" Saya then lets out a short yelp...

"Hmm...your chest is actually bigger than mine too..." Saeko responds nonchalantly...

(...Is Saeko 'trying' to make me turn around?)

"Are you two about done?" I ask.

"S...shut up you pervert!" Saya shouts back with a cracked voice...

After that...I heard some more shuffling...until.

"We're done" Saeko replies as she walks up next to me and leaves the drenched clothes on the railing... Saya walks up next to her with her face...flushed...

Both she and Saeko ended up in a black shirt and cargo pants. They have also taken off their shoes and were wearing a new pair of shocks...Saya...was also wearing an unzipped jacket.

"Y...you really need to expand your wardrobe...all you have is black clothes...and they all look the same, jackets, cargo pants and shirts" Saya responds as she tries to fix the shirt she was wearing...while my clothes ain't 'skin-tight'...Saya chest...was just too big...

"Guhh, stupid...annoying..." She then looks at the shirt and starts jumping place while pulling the shirt down...

(...F...o..cus)

"Is there something wrong...Naier?" Saeko pokes me on the shoulder with a slight smirk, her eyes narrowed...

"Uhh...no...let's bounce...uhh i mean let's go..." I close my eyes and quickly shake my head in the middle of my sentence, then turn to Saeko...she just... stares at me with a 'You just got busted' look...

"Well, while i do want to go on as fast as possible...we have no other shoes...we need to wait for them to dry...thankfully it's pretty sunny outside...and my boots did not get very wet inside...i think they are waterproof..." Saeko walks a couple of steps backward until she reached the railing by the river, she then sits on it and glances at her boots...seemingly letting go of the previous...subject...

Saya, after 'fixing' her shirt casually walks up next to Saeko, sits down and leans her back against the railing...

"Ok...so you'll stand guard for now?" She asks as she turns her head to me...

"Uhh...yea..." I nod as i glance around.

(She...didn't hear me?)

So, as Saeko was barefooted, we decided that i would stand on guard while we waited...

And after some time passed...

"...At least i don't see any corpses around" I say while tapping the bokkens edge on the ground.

"Uhh...so much about learning how to use that Mepi five or what's it's name..." Saya groans as she looks at the Luger that was now in her hands.

"Ahh speaking of that, as Saya 'did' have her weapon training, my turn should be next, right?" Saeko speaks up right after.

"H...hey... i no longer have that gun...it doesn't count..." Saya turns to Saeko as she frowns.

"Let's get to a safe spot first...then we will see what we'll do..." I respond.

"Very well..." Saeko nods at me and turns to look to her left, towards the street that continued next to the river.

"We...shouldn't be 'very' far away from the bridge...as we spent most our time waiting on that sandbank..." She adds up.

Saya then looks at Saeko...lets out a sigh...and lowers her head slightly...

"Uhhh...Naier...there's...also something else you need to know..." She says as she lifts her head and turns to me...her face taking a serious expression...

"I get the feeling it's not something i'm going to like, seeing how you are bringing this up..." I respond...she...nods

"Is it about Takashi?" Saeko asks...and Saya nods again...

(Huh?...What is it about Takashi that i am 'not' going to like...)

"Well...you see...after...we realized that we won't be able to reach the ladder...Takashi...ordered us to leave you behind...His reasoning being, that he could not allow to lose three members of his group..." Saya lowers her head and narrows her eyes slightly as she speaks...

(...Or...he just didn't want to lose Saeko...just because he said he would not 'try' anything...does not mean he would flat out keep his word)

"...This effectively means we also disobeyed Takashi's orders" Saeko adds up.

"...I see" I respond as i glance away and nod.

"...That's...that's all? You're fine with this?...Naier he ordered us to leave you behind! You would have drowned if we had done as he said!" Saya raises her voice as she turns to glare at me.

"Just because i'm silent, does not mean i agree with him, but i sort of understand where he's coming from...your two were an important part of the team" I turn to her as i answer.

(And it's not like that he doesn't have it in him either...he was willing to let Asami die in the manga without really 'trying' to save her...and he didn't seem to care that it was Kohta that had to shoot her too...i don't know if he didn't realize that Kohta was in love with that girl...or if he just didn't 'care' for anybody other than Saeko and Rei when push came to shove...uhh...guess the fact he wanted to save Alice is some sort of silver lining...But...this isn't about him now...)

"Well...if it counts for something... i'm glad that you two decided to stick with me..." I say after a short silence.

"...It...more than 'counts for something' Naier...trust me..." Saeko responds with a smile as she turns to me.

"Well, as i did already say. You would not survive a day without me, i can't just leave you all by your self...now that i know how much of an idiot you are" Saya turns to look away as she huffs and folds her arms.

"Heh...thanks.." I shift my eyes to the street to our left as i take a deep breath.

(Still as chundere as ever i see. So...uhh...after our stuff drys...we'll head towards the school...)

"By the way, Saya...the bag you left in the car...what did it have inside?" I ask as i turn back to her.

"...I took most of the stuff out before entering the car...only kept a couple of bullets, a roll of duct tape and some medicine..." She answers as she closes her eyes and stretches.

"Hmm, i see...yea...could have been much worse..." I respond.

"By the way, Naier...aren't you going to change?...Your clothes are drenched as well" Saeko asks as she tilts her head.

"I will...after i'm no longer the one standing guard..." I answer.

"I see, once my clothes dry then, i will take your place." Saeko replies with a nod.

And so...we waited...and other than some extra small talk...we stayed otherwise quiet...

Saeko was the first one to change into her 'normal' clothes...with Saya following after her, who also took the Luger's holster...in difference with Saeko though, her shoes did not seem to want to let go of their added water element...so, after they were done...i took the bag and went to change...well...i say went...but i didn't actually 'go' anywhere...last thing i need is a corpse sneaking up on me while i change...so yea, now it was their turn to 'turn around'...

"Good thing you said we should take some clothes...staying in our wet attire would be really bad...catching a cold or constantly sneezing..." Saeko speaks up as she kept her back turned to me.

"I actually just didn't want to risk wearing whatever clothes the people at the evacuation point would throw at me" I answer.

"S...so not only you wear only black, you also refuse to wear anything else too?...Huh...actually, it sounds something like you would do now that i think of it" Saya responds as she folds her arms and 'sways' her upper body.

"That's what i like, that's what i wear" I respond.

"Humm, i actually like your choice of clothing, trenchcoat included" Saeko adds up right after.

"W...well...yea..ok. It was not...that bad" Saya jerks her shoulders slightly as she turns to look away from Saeko.

"And, i'm done" I say as i close the bag and leave the wet clothes on the railing...

Or well...my pants, as my shirt was pretty much dry along with my jacket...as for my boots. Well...pretty much same deal like with Saeko's boots. They were not that wet inside...

My underwear...yea i was not going to wait for that...so i just tossed them in the river...and...i swear...have you seen how cats move their heads in unison when they see a fly or a dot...yea...that's how Saeko's and Saya's head moved...both of them...didn't say a thing though...they just...stared...

So, a couple of minutes later...

"My shoes are ok now...i think" Saya speaks up as she touches their insides.

"Uhh actually...Saya...i think you need to change shoes in overall..." I say as i look at her feet.

"Huh..why?" She asks as she turns to me.

"These...what are they...ballerina flat shoes? Loafers?...Point is, they provide almost no protection against bad terrain..." I answer as i point at them.

"Hmm...i have to agree with Naier on this." Saeko responds right after me.

"...Ughh fine, fine i will change them when i get the chance, you don't have to gang up on me" She sighs as she finishes wearing said shoes and gets up.

"Hmm, mine seems to be fine as well...so, it's time to get going?" I say as i kneel down and check the insides on my own boots.

"Alright...so...what's the plan?" Saeko asks as she gets off the railing and turns to me.

"Well, you will be on the front with the bokken, Saya you will be in the middle, keep the bag and have the handgun ready...i got the combat knife and the P220 but both should be a last-ditch effort...except if want to sneak up behind a corpse...a stab with the knife on the back of its neck should be more efficient...and silent...compared to smashing it with the Bokken" I glance between Saya and Saeko as i speak, both of them nod without any questions.

"Actually, How many bullets we have left?" I ask as i wear my boots.

"Hmm...the gun my mama gave me was empty...the one you had had both magazines full, same as with Saeko's gun and her magazines...and hmm...the last plastic bag we have in the bag, the one we did not open after we got on the sandbank, it has like...fifteen rounds in it?" Saya turns to look at her hand as she starts counting on her fingers.

"So...we have nine plus nine from my magazines...fifteen from Saeko's gun plus thirty from the mags..and say fifteen from the plastic bag...hmm...alright, we can add the extra bullets into the Luger" I nod as i look at Saya's hip. Where the luger rested.

"Actually, you can add the bullets from my gun into hers too, i don't think i'll use it" Saeko adds up.

"No, keep it like that, worst case, i will use it if mine runs out" I respond as walk up to Saya...Saeko just nods at me.

"Ok...so...how do i reload this thing?" Saya asks as she takes the gun out of it's holster and looks at it from side to side...i...stared at the gun...and...

"We...don't have the loading tool..."I say in a low tone...

"Huh...what?" She asks with a slight frown as she turns to look at me.

"The luger's drum magazine normally has a loading tool that goes with it...i got no idea if we can reload it otherwise...uhh, crap...how could i forget something like this" I facepalm as i groan...

"Hmm...now that you mention it...mama did give me an extra 'thing' with the gun...looked like a magazine with a handle but it had no bottom" Saya tilts her head slightly as she speaks.

"Yea...that's the one..."I respond...

"...It should be in your bag" She then throws me the bag with a slight grin.

"Huh, really?" I grab it, open it and start searching inside.

"Well, i figured it would be needed for the gun, so took it with me. Heh, what did you expect, i'm a genius after all" She responds as she puts her hands on her hips and huffs.

"Want a head pat?" I chuckle as i take the loading tool out of the bag, along with the plastic bag that had the extra rounds in it.

"W...what? I'm not a dog you idiot" She ends up folding her arms with a pout.

"So...only dogs can get headpats?...Huh...you learn something new every day...so...can i have the gun?" I extend my hand, Saya nods and gives me the Luger.

"Ok keep an eye here, so you can later do this by your self" I say as i press on the magazine eject button that was next to the trigger and pull the snail drum out, then, after kneeling down and leaving the gun next to me, i open the plastic bag and take a couple of bullets.

"Alright for starters, you grab this folded handle in the middle on the drum, unfold it and turn it clockwise until it stops, then fold it back, after that you put the loading tool with the 'handle' you mentioned in the opposite direction from where the drum is curved towards, then, you press the handle down, put a bullet, and let the handle raise slightly until the bullet goes inside, then push the handle down again and repeat the process " I load a few bullets as i explain the method to Saya, who was staring at the magazine, nodding every few seconds.

"Ok, let me do it." She extends her arm as she speaks, I nod, give her the gun and get up.

"Humm...wasn't this supposed to be 'my' turn..." Saeko tilts her head slightly as she looks at me...

"Uhh...i got no excuse, you want me to show you how to use yours?" I answer as i shrug slightly, she responds with a chuckle.

"No, it's alright...i want my lesson to be more...focused...so after we find a safe place...that way we won't have to worry about corpses sneaking up on us" Saeko smiles at me...and right as she finishes speaking.

"Ughh, Naier, the bullet won't go inside..." Saya speaks up with a whining voice...Saeko glances at her and smirks slightly. I turn to her and look at the magazine.

"Let go of the handle slightly" I point at her hand as i speak.

"Oh...right" She nods a couple of times and goes on to reload the magazine normally.

(I'm pretty sure i saw her loading a couple of bullets when i gave it to her...she...just said that on purpose didn't she?...huh)

Once Saya was done loading the bullets in the gun i gave her the bag, after taking the knife out.

"Alright, so...we take the road that goes in the opposite direction compared to the flow of the river...and keep going until we see the bridge, after that, we will see if we can go up the road...distance stays the same after that, four blocks straight, six blocks inland to the right" I lean over the railing and look at the river as i speak, then point to my right.

"Alright...let's go" Saeko nods and turns to glance at the empty road ahead.

"I can't see any of them wandering around, we should be fine for now...shame we have no dynamites though" Saya responds as she walks up next to Saeko.

"Yea, and with fewer people around, we'll have to be way more silent, we no longer have the fighting capacity we had...fewer people, no dynamites, no shotguns, no rifles...silence should be our top priority right now...so the moment we start moving, no more talking. If we have to interact, we do it by showing, not telling" I respond as i glance at the combat knife.

"Understood...let's head to the school then...and once we reach it, we'll see about our next step." Saeko nods at me with a one-sided smile, turns around...and start walking down the road, Saya following behind her.

(...Mulling over what happened ain't going to save us, keep focused on what's to come...still...there is one thing...that i do want to know...what the hell did they talked about when i was out cold?)


	36. Running late for school

(Huh...it's kind of weird how empty the streets are...we have yet to see a single corpse, much less a group of them. Normally, i would be glad about that, but now it just feels...weird for some reason. Then again, a helicopter is supposed to be loud as fuck. So is it possible that the ones that Saya saw caused all of the corpses around here to move away?)

While i was in my own world, i failed to realize that the two girls in front of me had stopped walking. So, i ended up bumping right into the person that was right in front of me, in other words, Saya. Who then turned to me with a frown and moved her lips to the words 'Are you stupid?'.

"My bad" I whispered as i shrugged slightly and glanced past her...

The road still looked clear as ever...but the reason the girls stopped turned out to be pretty obvious. As in the distance, I could see the bridge where we left the car at. Saeko then turns around and walks up to me...like...really close up to me. She leans forward and brings her face over my left shoulder.

"We're near the bridge, should we keep moving forward?" She asks.

"I don't see the corpse horde anywhere for us to have a reason to stop. Saya did say she saw helicopters...and these things are as loud as hell. If they passed from this direction, they might have baited everything away..." I whisper back...

"Yes, that's true..." Saeko backs off and nods. I then turn to Saya and motion her to come to me. She...glances around, then looks at me for a couple of seconds, before finally walking over to me with her head slightly lowered...

(...Don't tell me she's being shy now...)

"You said you saw helicopters right?...Do you remember which direction they were headed?" I ask the moment she got near. She nods and turns towards my right. She then looks around before putting her hand under her chin.

"Hmmm...they came from there...and landed there..." She points her finger to her right, in other words, behind me and inland, then runs her finger along towards her left.

"After that, they took off and continued straight" She then keeps moving her finger to the left.

"Hmm...so, if they didn't circle around the area or had another extraction point to head to. Then that means they went from point A to point B, and then headed towards point C...in other words. The base they took off and the base they returned was different...that's good..." I nod as i whisper.

"Good? Because they didn't return to the same base?" Saeko asks.

"Well, if that was the military, then it means that they have more than one functioning base. More bases means bigger influence and longer reach...so, as long as they ain't trying to kill us all, that's good" I whisper as i turn to Saeko.

"Huh, don't be stupid, why would the military try to kill us?" Saya asks right after.

"Dono, but it tends to be a very common trope in zombie games...they usually end up being the bad guys that were developing the virus and then released it by accident or otherwise" I answer with a shrug...Saya just silently face palms and lowers her head as she shakes it.

"How...did you even survive this long?" She 'asks' as she turns back to me. I just shrugged once more.

"In any case, let's move on" I add right after. Saeko nods at me, turns around and starts walking. With Saya following suit shortly after.

...A couple of minutes later, we were by the bridge. With the road to my right being the one with the car that ended up on the other car's roof, thanks to the dynamite that i tossed...

I then turn to my left and look past the bridge, on the road on the other side of the river.

(The car is still surrounded by corpses. Good, this means nobody tried to wriggle their selves in, or they did, they then failed miserably)

"Should we head back to the car?" Saeko, who had once again crept up behind me without me realizing whispers to my ear...

(I honestly just felt a shiver run up my spine just now...)

"No point, we don't have the keys and we made sure to lock everything" I shake my head as i turn to look at her.

(Real shame too, the Scar-H is still in there, along with ammo and food...i could really use a better gun right now)

"So, we keep moving forward?" She asks as she takes a couple of steps backward, i nod.

"In that case, we can go straight ahead" Saya, speaks up next as she looks at the road ahead.

"I can see a couple of them...but nothing like the horde that used to be there, we can probably just walk past them" She adds up. Both me and Saeko nod in agreement.

And like that, we started moving again.

After we passed the first intersection we started to find the first signs of resistance...take that with a bucket of salt though. As most of that 'resistance' consisted of corpses that were stuck under cars, behinds poles...or walking up against the railing, overall, the road was clear.

So it didn't take too long for us to reach the next intersection, the one with the hole in the railing. To be honest, i sort of expected to see tire tracks all over on the place, but the only part of the road that did see any was right before the smashed railing. Then again, i didn't press on the brakes for the wheels to grind again the ground.

(Hmm, this is the second intersection...so we need to move straight two more, then six blocks up)

As we walked past the intersection, Saya stopped and grabbed my sleeve, then pointed towards the ground on my left.

"Look" She whispered.

(Huh...these are..bullet casings? They look rather long, 7.62'mms? or 5.56'mms? They ain't shotgun or handgun casings for sure. So...if nobody came here after our group and opened a can of whoop-ass, then these are Kohta's...did he open fire here?) I turn to look at the hole in the railing, then back at the casings.

(They ain't too close, the casings are near the intersection's end, the hole is about in the middle...)

Saya then tugs my arm, turning to her she motions me to move forward with her head. I nod and start walking.

(Did they try to bait the horde away from the hole? Hmm...Saya did say that a river of corpses passed through while they waited)

I then look past Saeko.

(And i can't see any corpse hordes down the road...Well, the school should be six blocks up from here. If military helicopters passed to pick up people, then they were probably transport helicopters and i suspect that these are hella loud, double rotors and all. If they left by going straight from here. Maybe the rest horde, the part that didn't go swimming, got baited by them?)

"Did you hear any gunshots while in the river?" I ask as i walk up to Saya.

"Uhh..." She narrows her eyes and looks at the ground " I don't know...i think? Along with the rushing water and constantly getting submerged...i could not hear very well" She replies as she turns to look at me. I nod at her.

"Saeko what about you?" I ask after i move closer to her. She just shakes her head.

(Hmm, so if they did shoot. It was not right after we landed in the river)

Just as we reached the next intersection i saw an increase in bullet casings, which made a 'line' to my right, towards the uphill road that led inland...and on that road...

Saeko turns to look at me, i shake my head and point forward, she nods...and we walk past the corpse infested road...

(Well, at least we found where the remaining part of the horde treaded off too. So...on to the next intersection, then we see if we can go up)

On the way to the next intersection, i also noticed an increase in corpses, maybe these broke off from the horde?. Nothing too alarming though, they were still all scattered about.

So after a couple of zigzagging, we reached the next intersection.

"Looks clear enough" Saya whispers and she narrows her eyes, looking at the uphill road.

"Let's hope it stays that way" I turn to look at the road we just took as i speak.

And with that, we started going up the road.

The road till the first intersection was completely empty. Minus some crashed cars and a couple of corpses that i could see through the glass fronts of some of the stores that seemed to make up the majority of buildings around here.

Once we reached the first intersection we come to a stop...While the road straight ahead, after the intersection, looked clear. The intersection itself was...uhhh...

(Shit...now what? We don't have any dynamite...)

The intersection was littered with corpses that were moving from the right road towards the left one.

I look around me as i let out a silent sigh.

"Should we turn around?" Saya whispers as she leans next to me.

"And go where? Try the road next to this one?...Most corpses are moving towards that direction..." I shake my head.

"So?...We just wait?" Saya asks back.

"Well. We can wait...or..." My eyes stop on a nearby yellow sports car that was abandoned behind Saya...

"Or?" Saya tilts her head and glances behind her, then looks back at me.

"Or we let the car crash like we did last time, it should draw the corpses to it, we can go inside a store or something while they pass." I fold my arms as i speak.

Both girls looked...'skeptical' as they glanced at each other.

"Are you sure?" Saeko asks as she turns to look at me.

"If i stopped trying to do something every time it failed, i would have stopped breathing the first time i chocked" I answer.

"In other words, you like repeating your stupid ideas even after they are proven to be stupid?" Saya responds as she puts her hands to her hips and smirks as she raises an eyebrow.

"Yes" I answer flatly as i walk up to the yellow sports car.

"Uhh, as long as you are not on the driver's seat. I'm never letting you drive again" Saya groans audibly as she walks up behind me.

"Hey, for driving a car off a twenty-meter drop on purpose, i think i did just fine...the passing out part, excluded" I say as i open the door and look inside the car.

"Where will we wait then?" Saeko asks right after.

(Hmm, good question. Other than the nearby stores, we can use another crashed car that's a little further down. Wait on top of it until the corpses pass. Shame there are no concrete fences around here, what with most buildings being stores)

"Either that orange car down there or inside a store" I answer. Saeko then glances around.

"All the nearby stores that i can see inside have corpses in them, should we clear one out first?" She asks as she turns to me.

"Hmm. It's that, the car, or going to the right part of the road and firing a shot, then leaving from the left part" I turn around as i glance towards the right part of the street.

"The last one is way too risky, we'll end up being too close to them" Saeko instantly answers as she shakes her head.

"Yep, disapproved" Saya adds up.

"Sooo?" I ask as i lean my back on the yellow car.

"We can shoot and then wait inside this car" Saeko points at the sports car behind me as she speaks.

"Uhh...and i suppose somebody will have to wait in the trunk?...It's a two-seater..." I tilt my head as i glance behind me.

"Or somebody can sit on somebody" Saeko responds with a calm tone as she tilts her head.

"Huh...w..wha...who what?" Saya darts her head to Saeko.

"We just need to decide who will sit on who" Saeko adds up as she leans her upper body towards the car's insides.

"A...and how we'll even decide that?" Saya asks as her face goes slightly flushed.

"Rock paper scissors" I say with a chuckle as i fold my arms and look towards the intersection.

"Hmm, good idea, who goes first?" Saeko leans back out of the car and she turns to me...

"Wait...for real?" I ask as i also turn my head to her.

"This plan is safer than waiting on a crashed car that will also be closer to where the sound will originate, as here we can decide where we want to shoot. Clearing a shop obviously means we'll have to fight." Saeko tilts her head slightly as she speaks.

"...T...then stop wasting time like idiots and let's just do this already, we're wasting time and we need to get to the school. I...will start off against Saeko." Saya walks up to Saeko with hasty steps as she speaks.

"So...the winners sit on the same seat?...or the losers?..." I ask as i tilt my head. Both girls stop and look at each other...

"God damn it Naier..." Saya groans as she closes her eyes and drops her shoulders.

"Let's say winners" Saeko adds up right after. Saya nods a couple of times and then opens her eyes.

"On the count of three, one win. We rematch if end up with a tie" Saya puts her hand behind her back and turns to me.

"The one that is not facing off counts" She adds up, I nod and walk up next to them.

"Ok...ready?" I ask as i glance at Saeko, then at Saya. They both nod. I raise my hand slightly.

"Alright, word of advice, no shouting. We still have corpses next to us...so, three, two, one...Go" I bring my hand down and both girls bring their hands to the front.

Saya had rock.

Saeko had rock.

"Again" Saya puts her hand behind her back again, Saeko follows suit. I lift my hand once more.

"Three, two, one, go" And, i let my hand drop.

Saya had paper.

Saeko had rock.

"I win" Saya grins slightly as she speaks up...i think...i heard Saeko click her tongue?

"Now you go against Naier" Saeko then lifts her hand as Saya turns to me.

"Hum" Saya just nods as she stares at me.

"Three, two, one...go" And Saeko drops her hand.

I had paper.

Saya had Scissors.

"I win again~" Saya huffs triumphantly. She then narrows her eyes as she keeps staring at me.

"A..and You better not get any funny ideas now, I'll chop your hands off if you let them wonder" She says with the smirk still on her face...

"Actually Saya, we said winners sit on the same seat, you won both times, so you sit...with you" Saeko cuts her off as she folds her arms.

"Huh, t...that makes no sense..." Saya's smirk instantly turns into a frown as she turns to stare at Saeko.

"Well, that's what we said, winners sit on the same seat. Now...as you did win. You 'can' sit with Naier, if that's what you were actually after" Saeko grins slightly as she speaks.

(...Holy...shit, Saeko just sucker-punched the crap out of this whole gig)

"Aaahh...Don't say something so stupid, i didn't..." Saya cuts her sentence in the middle as she glances at me.

"So i guess it's settled then. I sit with..."

"Me." Saya cuts Saeko off...

(...Ehh?)

"As the winner, i want you, to sit with me" Saya folds her arms and looks at Saeko.

(...And Saya counterattack's...)

Saeko puts her hand to her mouth with a slight chuckle.

"If that's what the winner wants" She responds.

"Y...yea, that's what the winner wants" Saya ends up grumbling as she looks at the car's front wheels.

"So...uhh...i walk down the road and shoot?" I ask, Saeko turns to me and nods.

"As we will need more space, we will sit on the passenger's seat" She adds up.

"Alright." I nod and start walking down the road.

(This whole thing...was way too surreal...heh, i wonder what would have happened if i said that all of us can sit on one seat...other than Saya calling me a pervert that is)

I chuckle as i turn around and look at the car, Saeko was waving at me with a smile while sitting on top of Saya. Who was looking away with the face of a rich kid that just got denied a new toy.

I pull the handgun out and aim to my right.

(...Ok, focus back on the task at hand...for a moment there i sort of forgot we did all this in the first place...)

I pull the trigger...and turn to stare at the intersection. The moment i saw corpses turning towards me, i nod, holster the gun and run to the car.

The moment i reached it i swing the door open and get inside.

(Don't slam the door)

Then slowly close the door.

"Now...we wait..."I say as i glance at the side mirror.

"You better keep your fingers off that handbrake" Saya responds, the pout still on her face.

"Why the long face Saya? Wasn't this what you wanted?" Saeko asks with the smile still on her face as she turns to look at the pouting girl. Saya just grumbled as she turned to look at the window to her right.

"...I can't believe i got outplayed..." She whines with a low tone.

And just then, the first corpse shambled past us, causing us to turn silent. Then another...and another...and soon, the street had a parade matching down on it.

Saeko's grip on her bokken tightened as she stared at the corpses...not that she would be able to do anything if we got spotted now.

This view...continued for some time...

(Why does it feel like there are more of them walking down the road, compared to how many were on the intersection?)

I think as i glance at the side mirror.

(Hmm, wait. I think they are starting to thin out back there)

And true enough, shortly after, the corpses gradually started to decrease in number. The moment there were only a couple of them left behind us i turn to the girls, only to see that Saeko was staring at me with her hand on the door handle.

"Silently, no need to make them all turn around by screaming like monkeys" I whisper as i turn to my door.

"You're the only monkey in here..." Saya grumbles in a silent voice as Saeko slowly opens her door.

I open the door, get out of the car and look at the corpses ahead of us, we had one coming straight at us from the middle, one from the right side, three from the left and then one more further back in the middle.

I turn to Saeko and point at the lone corpse to the right, she nods and starts running up to it. I follow behind her after i motion Saya to follow us, and to keep an eye on the other corpses to our left. She responded with a nod as she pulled and gripped her luger with both hands.

The moment we reached the corpse, Saeko turns to look at me, i show her the combat knife. She nods and with a swift motion, she slides to the corpse's left side and taps the bokken to the ground, causing it to turn its back towards me. Using the opening, i switch the knife to a reverse grip walk up to the corpse grab it by the shoulder with my free hand and sink the knife on the side of its head. As it goes limp, i keep holding onto it and placing it on the ground, then pull the knife out. After that, i glance at the girls and motion them to move forward.

With no other corpses ahead of us, we quickly reached the first intersection, and after that, we kept going straight with a fast jog.

We run past the next road in silence, which compared to the intersection, was empty. well, actually, compared to everything we have passed through so far, it was empty. So we ended up on the next intersection in no time. Thankfully, that one was clear too...but...there was another thing.

"Police..." Saya keeps staring at the cop car that was parked in the start of the next street we needed to take, a couple of small hip sized fences were also placed to its left and right, with some of them being toppled.

"You think the school's guard perimeter reached this place?" I ask as i walk past a fallen fence and look around.

"Possible, my Papa had about three to four blocks set up as a perimeter" Saya follows behind me as she speaks.

"Really? I remember the distance from the entrance to the barricade having like one or two intersections" I check the cop car's truck as i respond.

(Locked)

"That was only on the front side, in order to have faster access to the building" Saya answers.

I then go to the front at the passenger's door and look through the window after checking the once again locked door...

"I see...hmm there's a baton there...and that's that. Can't see the keys anywhere...hmm...smashing the window will be loud...and we might come back down this road when we leave as this street is relatively clear. I'd rather not risk flooding it with corpses for a bet that might return nothing" I back away from the car and turn around.

"No point wasting time here, let's keep moving, if we decide to open this, it will be after we searched the school" The girls nod at me and follow suit.

(This must be the third road, so, three left)

As we kept moving, the road started to actually get better. For starters i could see fewer car wrecks, corpses were nonexistent, with the only ones i could see being inside the buildings, like on the second-floor windows for example...

So, in the end, we reached the next intersection as easily as the last time.

"Ok, not too much left now, two more intersections after this...wish the hill would stop being so frigging steep though" I take a deep breath as i look around, both the left and the right street of the intersection looked clear.

(No point going on one of the other roads, let's keep going straight)

And just as i was about to take a step forward. I heard a loud...Growl...coming from right behind me...

(Huh?)

I turn around...and see a blushing, wide-eyed Saya hugging her stomach...

"W...what do you want?...i haven't eaten since yesterday noon" She pouts as she looks away...

"Hmm...this place is surrounded by stores, so there should be something with food around here...then again, that type of food is probably rotten..." I turn around and look at the three diverging roads...

"You think they might have a convenience store around here?" I ask.

"I don't know...if it was a school for older kids, i would say yes, as the kids there might have an allowance to spend, but an elementary school?...i don't know..." Saya keeps looking away for a few seconds before looking back at me.

"Hmm, let's keep going up for now, if we find anything that looks like a convenience store or supermarket, we will check it" I nod at her and turn around.

"Maybe the school itself has some rations left, i will admit that i feel rather peckish my self..." Saeko adds up as we start walking.

And with that, we move on to the next street...

(Hmm...a clothing store, flower store, another clothing store, a video rental, a printing store, a bookstore...)

I then end up stopping in front of a motorbike store...

"Huh...why did you stop?" Saya, who was next to me stops and turns towards me.

"You can drive a bike?" Saeko asks.

"Somewhat...but uhh, the store just reminded me something, nothing to do with bikes though" I answer.

"Really? Is it ok for me if i ask what it was?" Saeko asks once again.

(...What it was ehh?...Takashi and You stopped by a bike store when found that hybrid vehicle in the anime...then you went to the shrine and got all freaky with him...probably)

"A movie i saw once, don't know why it stuck to me now" I answer bluntly.

"Anyway let's get going...didn't see any markets or convenience stores nearby" I add up as i turn to the road ahead and keep walking.

"Why when you need something, it's never there..." Saya groans as she also starts walking.

"Tell me about it" I respond with a slight chuckle.

In the end, we reached the semi-last intersection without seeing anything worth of mention...now the intersection itself...

"The next road is barricaded again, this time with actual barriers...judging from their color, these things look plastic" I keep looking at the orange Jersey type barriers as i speak.

"Well they are not too tall, we should be able to go over them without any real problem" Saeko starts walking towards the barricade as she speaks.

"Hmm, true, well let's..."

"Ahh, wait...there's a convince store over there" Saya cuts me off as she points to my left.

I look towards her pointing finger and see a small store with the sign '7' over it.

"Ohh...that's...convenient" I say with a deadpan voice... Saya turns to look at me with an equally deadpan face.

"That...was horrible" She says as she keeps staring at me.

I just chuckle and turn to Saeko, she nods at me, and we all headed towards the store...

The moment we reached the front door.

"Well...we'll either find what we want in here really fast...or we won't find it at all" I say as i look at...what i could only call 'a hole'...

"I can't see any movement inside...but the insides are not very well lit either, so let's be careful non the less." Saeko grabs her bokken with both hands as she speaks.

"Yea, let's go" I walk up to the glass front and look through it...

The main room was rather small. It had a counter with the register to the right, behind it a wall with no doors or windows. To the left were two shelves facing in the opposite directions, one was looking at the counter, the other was looking at the wall on the opposite side, which also had a row of shelves on it. Thankfully, all the shelves i could see from here still had some items on them. On the wall straight ahead of me, was a fridge to the left, to the right, a closed metal door, and In the center of that wall, was a straight corridor that led to a back door. Inside the corridor, i could see a toilet sign to the left...and i think one more door after that?

I push the glass door and it opens effortlessly. Saeko then walks in and checks around the room's blind spots, like the shelves and behind the counter.

"There is a trail of blood here, it leads to the closed-door" She whispers as she leans over the counter and looks behind it.

I nod and walk up to the door, Saeko silent following behind me.

(The door's made of metal with no windows...can't see inside...but...i hear 'something' from in there)

I bring the knife close to my face as i lightly push the door...and as the door slowly opened, i saw them...three of them, all huddled up together in one side of the dimly lit room.

Well, i say one side, but the room had actually very little room to move, as there was a giant table in the middle.

(Shit...we can't fight them in there...no room to move...and we can't just leave them there either if we're going to search this place)

I turn to look at Saeko, point at the corpses, then point to where i was standing. She nods.

(Ok here goes nothing)

I slap the door as i keep looking at the corpses, who, instantly turn to 'stare' at the door...

(...Zombies in semi-dark rooms...whats next?... A long-haired woman with unnaturally long limbs crawling towards you in a long white corridor?...Ughh...shit...i actually just scared my self)

I shake the thought out of my head, then take a step to the left, crouch down...and wait...

The moment the first corpse shambles outside, i grab it by the arm and pull it as i trip its legs with my own, and after it hit the ground, i slide on top of it and burry the knife to the side of its head. I then turn to look behind me as i pull the knife out of the corpse skull...only to come face to face with it's two 'friends'...

Yet, before they could even react, one of the two remaining corpses got its skull split open by Saeko's bokken. Attracted by the sound, the third and final corpse turns towards Saeko. She takes a step back and brings the wooden blade's hilt right under her chin while pointing the edge of the bokken at the corpse's face. Then, with a quick motion, she stabs the corpse as she lunges forward.

The bokken ends up going right into the corpse's mouth. Which in turn, stumbles backward a couple of steps, until it's back was against the wall with the wooden blade still in its mouth. Saeko narrowed her eyes...and as her lips curved up to a one-sided grin, she swiftly twists the blade...what followed was an audible 'crack' as the corpse fell to the ground motionless...

Saeko lets go of a deep breath as she pulls the bokken out of the corpse's mouth, she then closes her eyes as she places her free hand on the back of her neck...and after a couple of deep breaths, she opens her eyes and turns to look at me...

"Are you alright?" She asks as she walks up to me and extends her arm.

"Better than these two" I point at the two fallen corpses with my head, then take her arm and get up.

"I'm not going to let anybody hurt you..." She whispers as she looks at the fallen corpses ...

"W...when you two are about done, we still have the rest of the shop to check..." Saya grumbles as she folds her arms and looks away...

"Right, let's check the room that the corpses were in, then we..." I didn't manage to finish my sentence...when an awful stench creeped out of the room where the corpses used to be...

Saeko puts her hand over her mouth and nose then moves to peek into the room...only to close the door shortly after.

"These three...were in the middle of their lunch, a lunch that must have been going on for quite a while" She turns to look at the three corpses as she speaks.

"Ughh...i suddenly don't feel so hungry" Saya puts her hand over her mouth and backs off.

"Yea we can't stay in here..." I turn to look at the shelves behind me.

"Look for anything edible that's still sealed, we'll take it outside" I walk up the shelves as i speak.

"Yea good idea" Saeko nods and moves to the fridge.

"So only items in closed plastic packages" Saya adds up as she walks up next to me.

"Yep" I nod as i pick a sesame - honey candy bar.

"Uhh we better take some 'actual' food Naier" Saya groans...only for her eyes to stop on a bag of country Ma'am...

"Please, Pasteli is awsome. Plus it has a long shelve life" I respond as i start stuffing my pockets with the said item.

"You're hopeless..." Saya smirks as she turns to look at the less 'sweet' foods that were not rotten to the core by now...while still occasionally glancing at the bag of country Ma'ams...

(She's the one that's hopeless...)

I chuckle as i take the bag she was eyeing...

"Saeko, how is it looking over there?" I ask as i turn to her.

"There are still some cans of tea left in here, along with a couple of water bottles. The rest seems to have been taken, Also, everything is warm" She responds.

"Yea most of the 'normal' food that should still be edible is gone as well" Saya responds while holding a package of...i think was mixed nuts?

"Well in any case, let's get out, this smell is starting to engrave itself into my system" I motion towards the exit with my head as i start walking, the girls nod and follow suit.

Once we got out, we went back to the barricade and sat on the barriers, after making sure that the surrounding area was safe. With Saeko sitting to my left, and Saya to my right.

"Well, let's eat" Saya grabs the package of mixed dry nuts she was holding with both hands and opens it.

"Ahh, Saya wait." I stop her before she could put her hand inside.

"What, i'm hungry you know" She replies with an annoyed tone as turns to me.

"Saeko can i have a water bottle?" I turn to her as i ask, she nods and hands me a closed one. I then hand it to Saya.

"Uhh..." She just stares at the bottle after taking it.

"Wash your hands with it" I respond as i fold my arms...

"I...i knew that..." She glances at me she opens the bottle.

"Saeko you're wearing gloves right?" I ask as i turn to her.

"Yes, my hands should be fine, we should conserve as much water as we can" She nods as she responds.

"Well i'm sorry i'm the only one wasting water..." Saya grumbles as she keeps trying to somehow wash both her hands while holding the bottle with one hand...

"It's fine, we just ended in a situation where we had to eat outside, and the town still has tap water, it's not like we are dying of thirst" I take the bottle from her hands and help her wash them.

"What about later? Nothing is really 'running' right now..." She asks as she keeps looking at her hands.

(What, is she aiming for us three to wander around till the end of days?)

"We'll see when we get to that point, maybe we will be like we are, maybe we will be at a camp, maybe the corpses will end up getting pushed back, or maybe we'll get nuked to space...point is, don't spend too much worrying about it...if it can't help you to come to a conclusion, then it won't do you any good...and after all, you're a genius, you'll figure what you...what we need to do when the time comes" I lift the water bottle and leave it next to her.

"Yes...yes of course...and my papa and mama are still out there too...it's not like we are completely alone " Saya replies as she takes the dried nuts package.

"Don't forget that the military is still around too. Thinking of the worst-case scenario can prepare you for it, but you should not let it command your every step." Saeko leans over next to me as she looks at Saya.

"Jeez. Ok, ok. I get it." Saya groans as she picks a seed and places it in her mouth.

I nod and take off my gloves, then take the bag with the country ma'am and open it...yet before i could even pick one.

"Hey, idiot, eating sweets is not a good replacement for normal food...I'll be kind to you and trade you one of the mixed nuts packs for it" Saya instantly speaks up as she turns to me, her eyes glued to the soft cookies...

(...UGHHH...don't laugh...don't...)

"Khh...ehehe" and i failed miserably...

"W...what are you laughing about idiot, this is a serious matter. If you don't eat someth..."

"I actually just picked them because i saw you eyeing them" I cut her off as i leave the bag on her legs.

"I...i was not..." Saya glances at me as she shoves another seed in her mouth.

"Oh, so you don't want..." I slowly extend my arm towards the bag, only for it to get pushed away.

"You gave it to me, now it's mine," She mumbles as she takes the bag and leaves it next to her, away from my reach.

(Heh...)

"Humm, i don't mind sharing some of my food with you" Saeko shows an energy bar to me as she speaks.

"Nahh it's ok, still got these" I pull out a bar of honeyed sesame.

"Ohh, right...how did you call them again?" Saeko tilts her head as she looks at the item in my hand.

"Pasteli? It's actually Greek...well the name itself is Italian but the thing itself is Greek...i don't think it has an actual English name, not one that i am aware of at least. First time i had one i found the name 'Honeyed Sesame' to be a bit too...scientific? So i looked it up and found more information about it...also, it' might be called a 'candy' but it's actually much better in terms of food quality. Normally, for example, it should not contain any sugar because of the honey. Think of it as a high-quality energy bar" I respond as i rip the plastic cover, lift my headgear and take a bite.

"I see..." Saeko keeps eyes the bar on my hand...

"Can i try it?" she asks after a few seconds.

"Sure why not" I take a second bar out my pocket and give it to her.

"Thank you" She bows slightly as she takes the bar...while all that was happening. Saya was glancing at our direction with her head slightly lowered...

(God, don't go making them puppy eyes on me Saya...)

"Want to try one too?" I ask as i take another bar and extend it to Saya...

"Ok, since you're offering. It would be rude to not take it" She says as she takes the bar while leaving the pack of mixed nuts on her legs.

(So calling me an idiot instead of my name is not rude?...)

"Humm...this is actually pretty good...and you said it has a long shelf life too?" Saeko asks.

"If it has nothing extra inside?...About forty to fifty months" I answer casually.

"What?!" Saya's eyes go wide as she almost spits out the bite she just took.

"You know that's like four years!" She shouts as she turns to me.

"Yea" I answer casually.

"So, did you take all of the bars from that store?" She asks again as her face turns serious. Though it was a bit 'hard' to take it 'too' seriously. What with that small part of sesame that was stuck on the right side of her cheek...

"Uhh, didn't really search, just took the ones i found" I respond.

"Well, we are going back in there then, we are emptying that place of them" Saya almost jumps off the barricade as she grabs the bag of mixed nuts she had on her lap.

"You think she likes them?..." I ask with a chuckle.

"I don't see why not, it's sweet, it lasts long, and it's not unhealthy like normal sweets. if i knew about it i could have used it in my diet" Saeko responds as she gets off the barricade as well before turning to me.

"Diet?" I ask i also get up.

"Well, being the leader of the kendo club and the daughter of the Busujima family. I couldn't go around eating things that didn't benefit my body, i needed to eat correctly in order to have the energy to train efficiently." She answers with a smile as she tilts her head slightly.

"Hmm, makes sense" I nod as we start walking towards Saya, who was already peeking through the store's front door while holding her nose.

So, in the end, we ended up going back inside that smelly place, and after searching around for a while we found another couple of packs that ended up in the bag. After that, we exited the building once again.

"So, ready to keep going?" I ask as we headed back towards the barricade.

"Yea, i'm ready" Saya responds.

"Ready here too" Saeko adds right after.

"Ok, then let's...uhhh...Saya?...Are you taking these or not?" I cut my own sentence the moment we reached the barricade...and point at the bag of County Ma'am's that was still sitting on the barrier.

"...Right...it's still food, so we better take it" She blinks a couple of times before running up to the barricade, she then takes the small bag and places in the backpack after folding the open top part.

(And not because you've been eyeing these soft cookies from the very first moment you saw them? heh...)

"The school should be somewhere around after the next street, let's move" I lower my headgear and vault over the barrier.

(I just hope that we won't leave empty-handed from that place...if we do...guess we can try the police station then, we can check the other evacuation centers there...if there are any left...)


	37. Back to class

"Whoever built this thing, must have been really going for a king of the hill feel..." I stared at the elementary school that was on the opposite side of the street as i spoke. The building itself surrounded by a tall green metal fence. Guess it is, or more correctly, was there in order to keep the kids from running outside.

That though, was obviously not the reason i just mentioned it as the king of the hill. The reason for that was the school's position, as the road we just used to come here and the road to my left were both downhill roads, with the only 'straight' road being the one to my right. So in the end, the school ended up being positioned at the corner of a hill, towering over the rest of the buildings. Also, another thing i wanted to note is...

"So, many of them..." Saya keeps staring at the downhill road to our left as she speaks.

And 'many'...might be an understatement. To put it in perspective, right now to my left i could see two seas, one being the blue one in the distance...and one being a murky mix of gray, red and beige that had flooded the streets to my left for as far as the eye could see...

"At least they seem to be quite further down, even if we started shouting, i don't think they would notice us" Saeko folds her arms as she also keeps looking to our left.

"Uhh. At least there aren't any signs of battle around this street, it's actually pretty clean all considering, and the school looks fine past the fence too. If 'that' passed through here, then the school was probably already empty, meaning that they might have been following the helicopters" Saya takes a few steps forward and looks around the road as she speaks.

"Hmm...Alright, Come on, waiting here ain't going to change anything " I say as i walk up to the front door of the school's metal fence...

Once in front of it, i give it a push.

(Locked, i shouldn't be surprised though, should i?...Hmm, the bars don't have any arrowheads on the top.)

"We can probably climb the fence, it doesn't have arrowheads on the top of it so it should..." I turn towards the girls as i speak...only to see Saya staring at me with a shit-eating grin from the other side of the fence...the school's car gate slightly open.

"Or, you can come through here" She says with the grin still on her face.

"Uhh...they left the gate open?" I ask as i walk up to it.

"The gate opens by sliding it to the left, pushing it won't open it, and corpses seem to only push whatever they walk up against. It was just tied up with a metal chain." Saeko responds as she shows me the chain in her hand.

"...I'm not going to go on about how stupid it is to leave your front door unlocked, as it benefits us right now...but trust me, it's very stupid" I glance behind me as i speak and walk into the school's field.

After Saeko got in we closed the gate and 'locked' it again.

"Well...now what?" Saya asks as she looks around.

"This place looks abandoned" Saeko adds up as she looks at the small tents that littered the field in front of the main building, the whole scene looked a lot like the front of the police station, just a bit more organized...

"Before we go inside, let's check the outside first, i saw an open field through the fence to our left" I point towards my left as i speak.

"Ok, let's go" Saya nods and turns to walk to her left. The rest, aka me and Saeko, following behind her...

"Do you think the rest made it here safely?" Saeko asks as we keep walking.

"Can't really tell, we didn't find any signs that prove that they failed to do so on our way here, didn't find anything that proves that they did either" I respond as i look back towards the main building.

"I'm sure they're alright, it's not like they turned 'completely' useless after we got cut off. Plus, i need to kick Takashi in the face for what he said " Saya narrows her eyes slightly as she speaks...

"Actually, speaking about it, i hope i'm not prying but i need to ask. Naier, why are you not mad?" Saeko asks right after.

"You mean about Takashi's order?" I ask back.

"Of course she means about Takashi order you idiot, what else could it be?" Saya then turns to me with a frown.

"Uhh...as i did mention, i sort of understand where he..."

"Ughh, don't give me that crap, you were willing to shoot a kid in the face because in your eyes, he endangered the group, and now you mean to tell me that you're fine with 'this'?" Saya cuts me off as she folds her arms...

I let out a sigh and stay quiet for a few seconds as we walk in to the open field.

"So you want me to kill your childhood friend?..." I ask with a serious tone as i turn to her. Saya just...stares at me...

"I...didn't say that, don't go from one side of the scale to the other...and how did you know he was my childhood friend, i never told you" Saya narrows her eyes even more as she keeps looking at me.

(Oh crap, she didn't? I can't remember...)

"...Your mother mentioned it" I respond with a deadpan voice.

"Uhh, Of course she would go and do something like that..." Saya grumbles as she closes her eyes and shakes her head slightly.

"The point is, he was willing to listen to the reasons for my actions at the mall and we managed to work together so far. I should at least be willing to do the same and listen to his reasons. The world as is right now is going to have a lot more..." I stop and glance at Saeko who was a few steps next to me.

(I want to say psychopaths but...i don't know if Saeko will take it the wrong way...)

"More hostile individuals. As they are more likely to survive the initial chaos...so if somebody is willing to work with us. We should try to keep that bridge 'unburned' for as long as possible. Nobody can survive alone for too long, no matter how much of a badass they might be." As add up after a few seconds.

"...I really don't understand you some times...on one side you are willing to pull the trigger the moment you decide that somebody is a threat. On the other, you are willing to sit a listen to somebody who clearly knew that his actions would kill you..." Saya responds.

"Yes, but don't mistake 'listen' with 'trust', i'm not going to go after Takashi if we meet up again because doing so would end up badly for all of us, but that doesn't mean i will trust his actions" I answer.

"And what's the point on being in a group you don't trust?" Saya asks right after.

"Ehh, well Takashi excluded, i do trust the rest, but you make a good point. Maybe i should just lock my self in a mansion near a cliff...or a Yacht..." I say with a slight chuckle as i look around the field.

(Hmm, other than a couple of D.I.Y scaffoldings made of desks next to the metal fence, the place is clear...and absolutely emty.)

"Ughh, no Yachts, i hate them" Saya groans as she also starts looking around.

"You've been in one?" I ask as i lift an eyebrow.

"More than once. Some stuck up fatso that my father collaborated with had one. I was dragged there a couple of times on 'Parties' he arranged. Being stuck there for hours without end while having nothing to do...yea, i don't like Yachts." Saya folds her arms as she turns to me.

"Fine, you can stay in the mansion, but i'm still going on a boat trip" I respond.

"Hmm, a trip on a boat away from all of this does sound nice, got space for one more? If Saya wants to stay back, she can. I don't mind being just the two of us" Saeko 'asks' as she looks around, before turning to glance at me with a slight smile.

"O...oook can we stop talking about flying ships like a bunch of idiots now? We still need to search this place, and this place has nothing, so let's go back and check the entrance again" Saya butts in before I could answer. She then pretty much dragged me behind her after grabbing me by my sleeve.

Saeko just chuckled as she followed behind.

"What are you so embarrassed about?" I ask as i look at the pink-haired girl.

"I'm not embarrassed!" She shouts as she glances at me...her face obviously red.

And with Saya dragging me behind her while 'not' being embarrassed, we reached the front of the school once more.

"Ok, and what should we look for in here?" Saeko asks as she casually walks past us after me and Saya stopped walking, or more like Saya stopped dragging me behind her.

"Hmm...check the tents for anything that might have been left behind, water, rations, bullets...anything. Though i doubt they would accidentally 'drop' any stuff like that." Saya lets go of my arm as i speak.

"Should we split up?" Saeko asks again as she turns to me.

"Yea, but stay within sight. Search only the surrounding area on the front part of the building" I walk past the girls as i point at the nearby tents, and like that, we spread out and start searching...

The first place i headed to was a table under a tent that the girls were not looking at...

(Hmm...other than ripped plastic bags, cigarette butts, and two mugs...i can't see anything else.)

I take a step back and then look under the table.

(Uhhh, there's a gum stuck here...wonder if it has been there since before the outbreak...)

I shake my head and move towards another table, this one closer to the front door of the main building.

(...Humm there's a blue box next to it, looks like an ice cooler)

I kneel down next to the table and open the said blue box.

(Aaand, Nothing. If there was anything in here, it's not anymore)

I get up and look around once more.

(This place is really empty...at least on the outside)

I start to slowly walk towards the main door as i look around...until my eyes stopped on a bulletin board that was erected a few meters away from the front entrance of the main building.

(Huh, this thing is full of post-it notes)

I tilt my head slightly as i walk up to the board, then grab a random note.

(Kamille, it's Shin.

If you manage to read this, me and the rest made it to the extraction safely.

We will be sent to an aircraft carrier out in the open sea via helicopter. After that, they said we'll go to locations that have been secured from whatever this is.

I hope you are ok. Stay safe.)

I let go of the note and take another one...

(Hmm...same deal)

Then check another one.

(Again, more of the same. Everything here is talking about helicopters, aircraft carriers and 'secure locations'...wonder what these are, military encampments or something?...Uhh, personally, i don't know how to feel about having armed personnel that i don't know 'watch' over me from a close distance, probably because of all the movies i have seen where it goes horribly wrong...but still, none of these have any information on what to do if you get here late. They feel more like farewell cards if anything else...)

I let go of the note i was holding and turn to the board once again...

(Maybe 'our' group left something?...hmm)

"Hey you two! If you found nothing, then come over here for a sec!" I turn to glance behind me before turning to look back at the board.

"Ughh, You don't have to shout you know" Saya groans as she walks up to me.

"Found something?" Saeko asks the moment she got near.

"Might have...this board seems to have notes that were written by the people here, maybe our group left some information we could use" I say as i fold my arms and scan the notes on the board. The girls nod and then also turn towards the board.

In order to avoid looking at the same note over and over again, each time i looked at one, i took it off the board...

"Are you sure you should do that Naier? I know we can't be all good, but other people might be depending on these notes" Saya glances at me as she stops moving her finger over the notes.

"I think we should be worrying about our problems first" Saeko glances at Saya before looking back at the board.

"No, Saya's right. No need to make everybody's life harder if we can avoid it, and avoiding it here is as simple as putting the notes back on after we're done. So i see no problem with it as long as it does not end up to our detriment" I say as i keep looking at the board. Saeko, didn't respond...

(...Did me not agreeing with her nudge her off?)

Turning to her i find her staring intensely at the board...

"I found something" She says shortly after. Then takes a post-it note and hands it to me. I glance at the note that looked like a wall of text, and then start reading it out loud.

"To Saeko, Saya and Naier.

We hope you're all alright. We managed to make it here in time thanks to you, but sadly, we could not get people to send a rescue team, as they were all preparing for the evacuation. Also, we found Rei's father and Takashi's mom here, they are all safe.

Now, Rei's dad mentioned that when the Police force from his station got dispatched, half of the people from there got sent here, the other half got sent to a mansion in the central landmass, last they heard from that place, it was used as a refuge camp, the address you should look for is Senta 2–51–20. Apparently, based on Rei's dad, the evacuation there is to happen five days after this one." The note ended there.

"Hmm...Senta 2–51–20? Where in the crap is that?" I ask as i tilt my head.

"We no longer have a map, i have no idea" Saya folds her arms as she keeps looking at the note.

"Well, this is better than nothing, let's put the other notes ba...uhh...wait, there's more" I casually flip over the note addressed to us as i speak, only to see that there was more written on the back side.

"...Rei's father also said that the army will be taking our stuff, especially the shotguns, as they are more efficient for guarding locations compared to rifles, mostly urban ones. Because close quarters fights are more common there.

We did manage to leave a couple of stuff behind to help you out though. After all, there's no way that you three would just die like that. So, on the second floor in the principal's office, there's a safe, a hip hight mini vault type one. Takashi's mom said that it was owned by the principal as it was here even before the outbreak. Thankfully the password was inside the principal's textbook notes so we were able to open it and change the password, so we left some stuff inside it. The new password is Takashi's birthday" And the note ended there for real this time.

"...Takashi's birthday?..." I turn to look at Saya...

"...W...what? Why are you looking at me?" Saya's face turns into a frown as she folds her arms.

"Uhh...i didn't know Takashi before the outbreak..." I respond...

"Neither did i." Saeko adds up...

"Uhh...f..fine...i know when his birthday is at, it's on 7th of December..." She grumbles.

"The only reason i do know it is because he was always acting like a crybaby when i didn't get him a present..." She pouts slightly as she looks away.

(And totally not because you had/have a crush on him...)

"Still, This works perfectly for us. Shall we go to the second floor?" Saeko speaks up next.

"Yea let's go, after we put the notes back on the board" I nod, then lift the notes i was holding. Saya also nods and starts sticking the notes she had back on the board.

"Alright, can i have some? I didn't take off the ones that i checked" Saeko turns to me and extends her arm. I take half of the ones i was holding and hand them to her, then start sticking the remaining ones i had on the board, With Saeko following suit.

"Should we search the rest of the school too?" Saya asks as she keeps sticking the notes on the board.

"Yea, after we check the principal's office we will search the second and then first floor." I respond, Saya just nods without answering back.

We then continued in silence...

(The building inside should also be clear of corpses, seeing as the whole place seems to be clear of them. So we should be able to go straight to the second floor without too much of a fuss. I wonder what they left behind. Hmm, Takashi probably still has feelings for Saeko...maybe that's why he ordered that i be left behind in the first place. I just hope that means that he also considered leaving something behind to help with her, aka our survival.)

"Aaand i'm done" Saya takes a step back as she wipes her hands.

"I'm almost done too" Saeko adds up as she nods.

"Same" I say right after.

"So, we are going in the building next?" Saya asks as she walks towards the double glass door that was a few meters away to our right.

"Yea. I don't expect corpses to be in there, but don't head off by your self" I respond as i turn to glance at Saya.

"Of course i'm not going to head off by my self, i'm not you you idiot" Saya turns to me with a slight grin.

"Still...who was the retard who thought that putting a giant double glass door in an elementary school was a good idea? It's like an incident waiting to happen with all the kids running around" She then turns to look back at the door.

"Maybe it's reinforced and or tempered glass." I say as i stick the last note i was holding on the board.

"Not that it really matters now, does it?" Saeko, who also just finished, turns to me as she asks.

"Yea, true that. So, come on, we're done here so let's go check the second floor" I respond as i motion towards the door that Saya was next to with my head.

The moment all three of us were by the entrance, i pushed the door, which opened effortlessly.

(At least this one is unlocked...)

As for our destination, it was actually made clear before we even stepped inside. As we could see a set of stairs that led to the second floor through the glass door, the reason being, it was a straight line from here.

"Looks safe, i can't see any signs of struggle or intrusion" Saeko looks from left to right as she speaks...

Other than the hallway with the stairs that was behind the shoe locker ahead of us, there were also two wider hallways to our left and right. Both consisted of windowed walls on the side that looked towards the field, the other side had concrete walls with wooden sliding doors every so often. Classrooms if i had to take a guess.

Now the hallway ahead of us also had two doors in the wall to it's left, these were closer to each other. In other words, too small to be classrooms. Storages i suppose? To the right wall of the same hallway were another set of wooden sliding doors that led to even more classrooms, and lastly, the staircase that we were aiming for, deeper in that hallway.

"Well, let's keep our eyes open and head to the second floor" I start walking towards the stairs as i speak. The girls nod and follow behind me.

Also on a side note, after we walked passed the two doors to the left, the ones that i think are storage rooms. There was also one more door after that seemed to lead into a classroom, the reason i could not see it before was because the 'storage rooms' are actually protruding from the wall, or more correctly, it was that the wall after these doors was recessed.

And with that, we went up the stairs and up to the second floor.

"Hmm...which way now?" Saya asks as she turns to me. I glance at her before looking around me.

The upper floor was actually just a long hallway. windowed walls to the right, cement walls to the left, again, with wooden sliding doors. Other than that, it had nothing else...well, there were a couple of notice boards with kid drawings on them but that's about it.

"We need to find the principal's room" Saeko speaks up after a short silence.

"Hmm, let's look around, this hallway seems to consist only of classrooms." I nod, turn around and start walking down the hallway, the girls turning to follow me shortly after.

"I know it's probably because of my memory of our school...but i just can't shake the feeling that something will jump out from a door any second now..." Saya glances around as she keeps walking next to me.

"Yea...the fact that it's so damn quiet doesn't help either, but hey, at least it ain't a hospital. Clean white hallways splattered with blood and guts mixed with the smell of disinfectants, add the lack of electricity that would also make some of the rooms in there be pitch bl..."

"W...will you shut up already" Saya cuts me off as we reach the end of the hallway.

"Uhh. Right, sorry. Didn't realize it scared you " I respond as i turn to her with a slight grin.

"What?...I...i never said it was scary. You were just being stupid..." Saya narrows her eyes before darting her head away...

(Yes, yes, of course)

"...Naier, i think we found our target" Saeko then lifts her hand and points at a door straight ahead of us, at the end of the hallway we just turned to. On the door a metal sign with a slight golden shin, the letters 'PRINCIPAL' engraved on it.

"The principal's room, nice" I nod as i focus my sight on the distant door.

"Great, out of the three people here, two have perfect eyesight..." Saya whines as she pushes her glasses with her middle finger.

"There, there" I respond as i pat her head. She instantly jumps in place before taking a hop back, putting both her hands on her head as she looks at me with a pout.

"Quit being an idiot" She responds with her face slightly red...

(Jeez, it's not like my hands are radioactive or something)

I shake my head slightly and turn around. We then walked to the end of the hallway, towards the principal's door. Once there i try to open it.

"Unlocked. Well, they're supposed to have stuff for us in here and didn't mention anything about locking this door" I say as i open it, walk inside and...

"Uhh...What...the...fuck?" Was all i could say as i looked around at the room...

"Ughh...i really hope i don't have to meet this 'principal'..." Saya groans as she looks around the room. That was, in one word. Extravagant...

The vinyl style floor that consisted so far got replaced by wooden, dark crimson/brown boards. On the left wall, a short wooden cupboard with a couple of model airplanes on it. Next to it, an antique wooden double glass door cabinet with several trophies and awards on display, and after that a small brown...fridge?

To the right, a bookcase extended from one side of the wall to the other, all filled with books that were neatly organized, and finally, next to that bookcase was the safe we were looking for. The wall ahead of us was made of large windows, having a clear view of the downhill road we used to come here. There was also a giant ass desk with an even bigger ass chair in the middle of the room. The desk, other than a pencil case, a couple of notebooks and a laptop, was empty. Also, one more thing to add. The room smelled different compared to the rest of the school...

"Apparently somebody liked showing off" Saeko speaks up as she walks into the room.

"Well, his bloated ego got him the safe, and that's something that benefited us in the end" I respond as i walk up to the safe.

"True. You said the password is Komuro's birthday right?" Saeko asks as she stops next to me and leans towards the safe.

"Yea...let me open it..." Saya responds as she also comes next to the safe, then kneels down and puts her hand on the wheel combination lock.

"You must really care about him if you still remember his birthday" Saeko glances at Saya before speaking up, causing the pink-haired girl to over flip the lock.

"I...I don't care about him!" She darts her head to Saeko...

"...All he did was ignore me, why would i care about him..." She says right after in a lower tone as she turns to look back at the lock.

(Well, you were kind of unbearable before the outbreak. I mean, in the anime you show up to a depressed Takashi, and out of all the things you could do to get closer to him what did you do?...Pester him...)

After that Saeko stayed quiet as Saya continued to fiddle with the lock combination...until...A metallic 'clank' and the thick safe door opened wide.

"Got it." Saya leans her head forward as she peers inside the now open safe.

Needless to say, both me and Saeko followed suit.

"Well, this is nice" Saya keeps looking inside the safe as she speaks...

The first thing i saw, being it was the biggest item in there...was the Mp5...under it, the vest that Kohta wore along with three slings, next to the vest was a folded map that had two flashlights, two walkie talkies and a textbook on top of it...and lastly...

"Huh, what is this?" Saya picks up a folded paper along with a key from inside the safe. She then unfolds the paper and tilts her head slightly.

"Samurais under the cabinet...uhh...what?" Saya tilts her head even more...

Not a second later, i heard shuffling behind me and to my left. Turning around i see Saeko flat on the ground with her left arm under the cabinet...And after a few seconds, she pulls her arm back out. Except this time, she also had her katana in her hand. She then gets up and dusts her self off...

"This, is definitely good" I say as i stare at Saeko.

She then walks up to me and hands me the bokken she was holding with the other hand, then bows slightly.

"Thank you for letting me borrow it" She says as she looks at me. I just responded with a slight nod.

"Ekhem!...So, other than this key, we know what everything else is for..." Saya makes an obviously fake throat-clearing sound, lifts her hand slightly and turns to look at the key in her hand...

"Actually, i know what this key is for." I say as i turn around to the small vault, kneel down and take the Mp5 and vest.

"It's the humvee's" I add up as i leave the Mp5 on the safe and then wear the vest.

"Huh, well this just increased our odds of survival a thousandfold, the Humvee is full of ammo and food" Saya ends up grinning slightly as she speaks.

"And the Scar-H." I add up as i grab the three slings, then put one on the Mp5 and 'wear' the second and third one.

"So, should we still look around the building?" Saeko asks as she draws the blade slightly as she looks at it.

"Yea, one thing does not cancel out the other, especially since this place is probably corpse free" I get up and turn to Saya as i speak.

"I will take the Scar-H after we reach the car, for now, i will use the bokken" I say as i hand her the sub-machinegun.

"So i'm the only one that will be doing nothing..." Saya takes the gun as she looks at me with one eyebrow raised.

"I can give you the bokken if you want" I respond as i fold my arms. Saya, just blinks a couple of times.

"J...jeez, I was just kidding." She then hugs the gun and pouts slightly as she looks at me.

"...Also, that textbook in there. It's the one you wrote, let's put it in the bag along with the map, flashlights and one radio, me or Saeko will hold on to the other one" I point at the safe as i speak.

Saya nods and kneels down, then takes off the bag, opens it and starts stuffing it with the stuff left inside the safe...

"...We wrote..." She whispers in a low tone as she glances at the notebook.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing...are we done here?" She shakes her head and gets up. After wearing the sling with the Mp5, she passes the bag on one shoulder.

"Yea, don't see else anything worthy of note, let's check the other rooms" I nod as i take the second walk talky and pocket the car key. Before exiting the room, i also pass the bokken on my back between the vest and the jacket.

(We left some bags in the car, i will put it there once we get them, because this, is uncomfortable as fuck)

With that, we exit the room and head to the right, in the room a few meters away. The label 'Staff' on the door.

"Ok, let's start from here" I say glance at the girls, they both nod. I then turn to the door and slide it to the left...

The room was pretty much empty, the desks positioned in the corners as in to increase the space, to the right was a long counter that run from wall to wall with cupboards over it and under it. A sole red coffee maker was sitting on that counter, it's bowl was missing and it looked a bit...battered, and seeing how there were red paint 'scratches' on the floor a few meters away...yea somebody went Hulk on the poor thing...probably when the emp fell and it stopped working?

"What are you staring at that thing for" Saya asks as she brings her face closer to mine before looking a the coffee maker.

"Nothing, my eyes just stopped on it as it seems to be the only thing they left behind in here" I say as i turn my head to her.

"Anyway, let's check around" I add up as i walk inside the room...

The cupboards that were over the counter, the ones that were under the counter, the tables...nothing, everything was empty...

So, we exited this room and went to the right, towards the next door. The next room was a classroom, yet all the desks were gone, and once again, absolutely nothing in it.

After exiting that room we continued to the right until we found another door to our left, right before the end of the hallway we were on. It ended up being another classroom, in the exact state as the last one, completely empty...

Instead of exiting from the same door we entered, we then went straight ahead into the classroom and exited from the opposite direction, ending up on the hallway with the stairs...

We checked another couple of classrooms as we headed towards the stairs...all with the same outcome. Desks all gone and the rooms completely empty...

"Ughh...feels like the place has been picked clean..." Saya groans as we finally reached the stairs.

"We already got way more than we could hope for, i would not really mind if we found nothing" Saeko turns to look at the hallway behind us as she speaks.

"Yea, let's do a quick check on the floor below and after that, we will head to the car." I start walking down the stairs as i glance at the girls.

"How about taking a break here first? We have been walking non stop..." Saya folds her arms as she tilts her head slightly.

"A short one. Right now it must be around what? One? Two PM? We have to find a place to hide the car before sundown. I don't want to risk driving in the middle of the night." I stop on the stairs and turn around.

"...Uhh...right, and the only safe spot we know is the h...wait...drive?" Saya blinks at me a couple of times.

"...Uhh...yea, drive" I respond.

"Ohhhh, no. You, are not driving." Saya narrows her eyes and frowns as she looks at me.

"Saeko, can you drive?" I ask as i turn to her...she shakes her head.

"Can you?" I then turn to Saya...she just glances around with her arms still folded.

"And as my good ol mechanic J. Jones ain't answering his god damn phone again, that leaves me as the only person here that knows how to drive." I say as i lift both arms with a slight shrug.

"Who is not doing what now? Why are you talking stupid?" Saya narrows her eyes even more as her frown deepens. Saeko just tilted her head questionably without speaking.

(Of course they would not know about Gta...I mean ,does it even actually exist here?...)

"Uhh...nothing, personal joke to my self...let's go" I respond as i turn around a start walking down the stairs.

"By the way, now that we have the map. When we take that break we should check it to see where that mansion is located at." I add up.

"On it" Saya responds as she starts walking down the stairs, followed by Saeko.

After reaching the first floor we then checked the first door to our left. It ended up being another classroom, this one had desks and chairs though. More importantly though, this room was full of plastic plates. Both on the desks and on the floor.

"They didn't clean up after themselves huh?" I say in a half-joking manner as i casually headed to the nearest table and checked the plates on it.

"Feels like there was a party in here" Saeko responds as she walks up next to me.

"Possible. Remember the people here got extracted, maybe they decided to let loose on rationing after they got confirmation that they will be getting out today" Saya adds up as she walks past us.

"They might have left something behind, let's check around" She says right after.

(Highly doubt they left anything behind, but it won't hurt to check)

With that, we spread out and start looking around the room...

And a couple of minutes later...

"I don't see any cooking utensils around here, how did they cook?" Saeko speaks up.

"Maybe they stoked up on edible things that didn't need to get cooked, like canned food" Saya replies as she nudges a plate off the table with her finger.

"Well there's nothing left here. Let's check the last few rooms on the first floor, after that we'll take a short break and check the map, then we'll head towards the car" I glance behind me as i speak, at the door that led to the hallway.

And few minutes later, we were out of the room. We then checked the two storage rooms next to us to our left.

Other than mops, buckets and empty bottles...the rooms were empty. After that, we checked the next door ahead of us and to our left, that one looked the same as the 'cafeteria', minus the plates. Lastly, we checked two of the rooms to our right, both classrooms, both empty.

"Uhh...i see no point searching any further, the place is obviously empty..."Saya groans as she folds her arms and turns to me.

"Yea, let's go to a room that has some desks and chairs, we will check the map there" I nod and turn around, then head towards the door that led to the hallway, the girls following behind me.

After exiting the room we were in, we went straight ahead and into the room ahead of us, the 'cafeteria' look alike room. We then sat around a desk and took the map out the bag and opened it...and instantly noticed a medium red circle in the middle of the central landmass...

"Huh...is that?"

"Senta 2–51–20" Saya cuts me off as she puts her finger on the circle, the address she just mentioned written on it.

"It's pretty far..." Saeko tilts her head slightly as she keeps looking at the map.

"At least we have five days until the extraction happens there, right? I say as i turn to Saeko.

"With the car, it's more than possible. It might be far, but we crossed more distance in less time the last couple of days" Saya responds.

"In other words, we need to make sure we get to the car." I add up.

"It was still on the other side of the bridge last time we passed" Saeko turns to me as she speaks.

"Uhh, how are we going to pass it? The rope snapped..." Saya puts her elbows on the desk and places her cheeks against her hands.

"I jumped to the other side of the bridge once, i can do it again. Saeko, you think you can manage that as well?" I respond as i turn to Saeko, she nods after thinking for a bit.

"Yea, but i can't. If you didn't realize it yet" Saya frowns slightly as she speaks.

"That's why you'll go swimming" I respond. Saya just...blinks at me.

"I will take your bag and guns so you don't have to wor..."

"Hold on a second!" Saya cuts me off as she raises her voice.

"You expect me to just dive into the river from the damn street?!" She adds up.

"There should be a ladder around there somewhere, you can use it to go down, then drift to the ladder on the other side of the bridge, i did see one while we were going down with the car. Jumping over the bridge, unless you are a hundred and ten present sure that you will succeed, it's a no go. Falling from that height could be fatal" I respond.

"This is stupid..." She groans as she folds her arms and looks away...

"You want me to come with you?" I respond. Saya darts her head to me and frowns.

"I don't mind going to the river with you if you want that, Saeko can take the bags" I add up as glance at Saeko before looking back at Saya.

"...Idiot, i just don't want to get wet again. I can handle it just fine" She responds with a slight pout...

(Jeez)

"So...that's the plan then, me and Saeko jump over the bridge, Saya goes swimming. After that, we get in the car and then see where we go from there" Both Saeko and Saya nod...the latter with a slight pout still on her face...

"This is going to be the third time today that I'm going to get wet because of you..." Saya groans as she folds her arms...

"You're going to get what because of who now?" I respond as i tilt my head slightly.

"What, are you deaf now as well? I said I'm going to get we..." Saya then stops in the middle of her sentence...blinks a couple of times...and then her face goes a deep red. She then glances at Saeko, who was hunching slightly forward. Her head lowered with her hand over her mouth as she kept staring at the floor to her right, i think her cheeks were also slightly flushed...

"W...what are you making me say you pervert!" Saya shouts as she grabs the bag next to her, hugs it, and leans forward on her seat as she glares at me.

"I didn't 'make' you say anything. That was all you" I respond with a slight grin.

Saya darts her head away and starts mumbling while still hugging the bag...and then, silence...

"Uhh...ok so, before things get even more awkward. Let's prepare to head towards the car." I slowly get up from my chair as i speak.

(Funny stuff aside, we have five days to reach that mansion. It might seem much, but i'd rather not risk losing the car)


	38. Your driver's license please

"This is ridiculous…" Saya groans as she keeps staring at the ladder that led down to the river.

"If you have another plan in mind I'm all ears Saya. I'm going blind as much as the other guy here." I respond as I fold my arms and lean over the railing, looking at the river below…

Thankfully, after leaving the school we were able to reach the bridge without any real problems. Sadly we didn't find anything else that might be even remotely useful though. I mean, even the cop car we found at the barricade was empty in the end, as we opened it up on our way down.

"Can't we just lower the stupid bridge?" Saya responds with a slight whine.

"I have no idea how these bridges work, all I know is, that they're supposed to have some sort of booth-like structure that should have a control console in it. Something that I can't even see around here to be honest" I respond as I turn to look at the bridge that was a little further off to our left.

"...Ughh. Fine, fine. Let's get this over with, all I have to do is drift to the other side..." Saya then closes her eyes and folds her arms. She then takes off the gun and bag before handing them to me.

"Actually, There's...one more thing..." I respond as I bring my hand to the back of my neck, causing Saya to frown.

"What? Do I have to go in my underwear so my clothes don't get wet?" She responds sarcastically as she narrows her eyes, the frown still on her face.

"Uhh...well, there are corpses on the other side. We won't have time to wait for you to dry up. I was thinking something along the lines of changing to clothes we have in the bag...but if you want to go in your underwear then do a..."

Before I could even finish, Saya had already snatched the bag back.

"Pervert..." She whispers in a low tone as she opens it.

"Hey, I'm just trying to figure out a way to avoid turning the car in a soggy mess without having to wait next to a group of corpses, plus, staying in wet clothes will make your movement more audible and weight you down" I respond as I wear the Mp5's sling.

"I get it idiot. You don't have to get so self-justifying" Saya groans as she takes a pair of trousers, a shirt and boxers out of the bag.

"I have my older clothes in the Humvee, can't I just stay in these and then change to the ones I have in the car?" She asks as she looks at the clothes she just picked.

"Too risky, You will have to change outside the Humvee as changing inside will still get the car drenched and outside of the Humvee, we have corpses within arms reach" I respond as I tilt my head slightly.

"...Turn around..." She then glances at me as she throws me the bag, keeping the cargo pants shirt and boxers.

"Boxers?" I ask as I do as she asks.

"W..well what's the point of changing clothes if my underwear gets wet. B..but don't get funny ideas! If you even dare to peek I will toss you into the river! And this time won't save you!..." Saya finishes her sentence in a slightly higher tone.

(I thought it was Saeko that carried me?...)

I shake my head slightly and turn to look at Saeko, who was now in front of me. She just smiled and tilted her head slightly.

"You sure you can do the jump? Or it might be better if you went by the river as well?" I ask as I start hearing shuffling behind me.

"I can handle it. Except, if you 'want' me to go to the river" Saeko glanced at Saya as she spoke, then looked back at me.

"...No, do as you wish." I respond as I turn to look at the bridge.

(Ughh, that answer gave me all the wrong ideas...)

"I'm...done." I then hear a rather meek voice behind me.

Turning around I see Saya with a slightly flustered face, hugging her folded clothes. Saying that she was wearing the exact same stuff as the last time she had to change is, kind of a trap question. As all my clothes are the same after all. So, she was once again, in a black shirt and black cargo pants.

"Quit staring at me idiot, your clothes didn't fit me before and they don't fit me now either." Saya glares at me as she tightens her hug on her folded clothes.

(Of course they frigging don't.)

"Right, let's put your clothes in the bag and get this over with, you can change on the other side" I say as I take a step forward and extend my arm. Saya nods and reluctantly hands me her clothes, shoes and extras included.

(Call me a pervert, but did she 'have' to place her underwear on the top?...Thank god for the mask...)

Acting as casual as possible, I take her clothes and put them in the bag.

"Ok, let's go" I say as I turn around and start walking towards the bridge, Saeko responds with a nod before also turning around to follow me...

By the time we reached the bridge, Saya was already off the street. Probably on the ladder... But enough about Saya, we had our own 'problems' to deal with. More precisely.

"The rope is a bit high up..." Saeko looks up to the hanging rope as she speaks, and she was not wrong, it must have been at least three meters over our heads...

(Hmm the corpses I shot are still here, we could probably stack em up...or one of us can leg up the to other)

"We could..."

Before I could even start speaking, Saeko sprinted straight towards the bridge, wall ran a couple of steps up, and grabbed the rope...

"Do that..." I finish my sentence as I tilt my head.

Saeko then turns her upper body around and extends her arm to me.

(Ehh, whatever this works too)

I then also do the same before taking Saeko's hand with my right hand and grabbing the rope that was hanging under her with my left.

"I got it, move up" I say as I let go of her hand. She nods and turns her upper body around, then starts climbing up...

(...She does know that her skirt is a bit...'too' short for this...right?)

I turn my head slightly to the left, towards where Saya should be at as I start climbing. Saying that I didn't get a good 'glimpse' though, would be a lie.

After reaching the top of this side of the bridge we both stop for a bit to look at the other side.

(The other part of the rope is still there. But, I'm actually aiming to land on the scaffolding. Just like last time)

I then turn to glance at my right. This time, I could actually see Saya on the ladder. She was on the last step, her feet already touching the water.

"Are you ready?" Saeko then puts her hand on my left shoulder, causing me to shake my head slightly and turn to her.

"Yea, I'll go first this time around" I respond, she replies with a silent nod.

(Focus, what we have to do is far more dangerous than what Saya has to do, and this time, I have no rope to hold me in case I fail. Ughh, come on, quick shooting yourself in the foot, you did it once, you can do it again. Just get a better landing this time around)

With a slight nod, I lean forward until I start to slowly fall. I then bend my knees, and jump.

After 'flying' in an ark for about two to three seconds, I land on the scaffolding of the other side of the bridge. This time without pulling any arm.

(Ok, done and done)

I climb up a few metal beams until I reach the rope, then turn to look at Saeko. The moment she saw me looking at her she nodded and jumped. Without even batting an eyelash...and...she actually ended up landing higher than my initial position on the scaffolding.

"All good?" I ask as I turn to her. She just nods as she lifts her head to look at me.

I then turn to look up, before starting to climb using the rope...

Reaching the top didn't take too long after that, and once I did get to the top I balanced myself and looked towards the Humvee that was ahead of me, in the middle of the street.

(Corpses are still surrounding it, hmm, one bullet should still be enough though.)

I then look below us, at the bridge's bottom.

(And it's still clear)

And finally, I look towards Saya. Who was still on the ladder, with her lower body now underwater. From what I could see, she was looking towards us. One of her hands holding the ladder, the other trying to hold her twintails out of the river.

(Can she see me?)

I raised my hand and waved at her, and a few seconds after that, she let go of the ladder.

"Ok, let's go next to the ladder on this side" I bring the rope up and toss it over the other side of the bridge as I speak. Then, using the rope we quickly climbed down, again jumping off as the rope was once again shorter than the bridge's height.

After landing, and while still facing the bridge, we ran to the left side. Towards the same sidewalk I was on when I scanned the location for a way to get on to the other side.

"Help Saya, I will keep guard." I turn to Saeko as I speak, she nods and runs to the ladder. Gets on it and disappears from my vision.

(Ok, next step, We shoot a gun, get to the car, and get the fuck out of here)

While thinking, I looked around me.

(I can see some corpses on both the sidewalk we are on and on the one after the road. They are pretty far away though, so it should be fine. Most corpses here after all, are next to the car. Hmm, yea, we can probably shoot a gun safely if we move fast after that. So after Saya changes, we will do that)

"Ughhhh...why must the river be so damn cold" I then hear a whining voice behind me, turning around, I see Saya staring at me. She was shaking slightly and with her arms were folded as she hunched forward.

I take the bag off and give it to Saeko.

"There should be a jacket in there too." I say as I turn around again, looking away from the two girls.

"I..if I catch a cold, It's going to be completely your fault" I hear the same whining voice once again.

"Then I'll go to the nearest pharmacy to get you medicine" I respond.

"We already have medicine in the car idiot" Saya replies with a groan.

"Fine, then I'll spoon feed you till you get better." I say as I raise both arms and shake my head slightly...

"A..I..it'll still be your fault.." I hear Saya reply, albeit this time with much less 'oomph'...

We then stayed quiet for a bit...until...

"Would you also take care of me if I got sick?" I hear a different voice ask, and since there are only three of us here.

"If you wanted me to. Though Saeko, if your immune system is half as badass as you are, then I'll probably end up sick before you do." I answer.

"Hmm, you have the wrong image of me Naier, I'm not a superhuman, in more ways than one" Saeko replies.

"Well, I better find me two spoons then, just in case..." I respond with a slight chuckle in a low tone. And after some more shuffling...

"What do I do with these?" Saya asks.

"If you mean my clothes, throw them. We're not waiting here, that was the whole point" I respond.

"Ok. Let's go then" Saya answers a few seconds later.

"Alright, come on" I motion with my head towards the bridge without turning to look at them, taking the MP5 off in the process.

"So, how will we do this?" Saya asks after coming next to me.

"We will pick one side of the bridge, somebody will take the gun and go to the other side, then fire a single shot and return. The moment we see an opening, we will head to the car as fast as we can,as the shot will make the corpses from both the sidewalks that are next to the bridge to crawl up to us" I respond.

"Who will take the shot?" Saeko asks next.

"Either you or Saya, we won't be in a rush until we fire, so it's a good moment for one of the two of you to take the shot." I answer.

"I'll go. I have not shot once ever since you showed me how to do so. And, this is supposed to be the gun that I am using." Saya instantly walks up to me and extends her arm.

By now, we were past the middle of the bridge and towards the right side. I stopped, and gave the MP5 to Saya.

"Go to the side we came from, me and Saeko will head to the other side. The safety is on, so remember to switch it, but more importantly, switch it back on after you take the shot." I say as I give the submachine gun to Saya.

"Ok..." She nods slightly as her eyes focus on the gun.

(I expected some sort of cranky remark, is she getting anxious?)

"You will do just fine, relax. Just shoot then run back to us" I say right after.

"O..of course I'll do fine, I'm a genius, not an idiot" She narrows her eyes slightly as she lifts her head to look at me.

(And there's that cranky remark)

"Right, Saeko, let's go" I nod, turn around and start moving towards the other side of the bridge, Saeko walking next to me...

After reaching the end of the road we stop and turn around to look towards Saya. Who, after running to the other side of the road, also turns to look at us. I then make a thumbs-up motion to which she nods, before turning to look towards the corpses that surrounded the car. She then lifts the gun, puts it against her shoulder and places her cheek on the stock...

"When we find a place to stay. I hope it will then be my turn for one of your lessons" Saeko whispers to my ear...

(Oh holy?! When did she...)

I must have been really focused on Saya, as I didn't realize that Saeko had crept up on me...again...

"Don't worry, I didn't forget" I respond as I turn to look at her.

(Her face, is way too close)

She then nods, and backs away...and right that moment. A single shot echoed.

I turn my head to Saya, to find her fiddling with the gun. But more importantly, not moving an inch...

(What is she doing?)

"Wait here, keep an eye on the corpses behind us." I say as I glance at Saeko, then run to Saya.

"What are you doing, move." I speak up the moment I reach her.

"The stupid gun is stuck. The hole where the bullets come out from is not closing completely. I didn't do anything, I just pressed the trigger" She responds as she turns to look at me.

"It jammed? Uhh, I'll fix it in the car, no time now. Come on, move." I say as I put my hand on her back and softly push her.

"Ok, you don't have to push me." She responds with a slight groan before she starts running towards Saeko…

And the moment all of us gathered at the side of the road I turned to look at the car.

(Good, corpses are already moving to our right)

Then look at the sidewalk to my left.

(And so are these chumps...it won't be more than a minute before they are on top of us)

"Naier" Saeko speaks up while also looking at the corpses on the sidewalk to our left.

"I know, we'll move before they close in too much." I respond, Saeko nods before turning to look at the Humvee, her hand hovering over the blade's hilt.

I spent the next couple of seconds darting my head between the Humvee and the oncoming corpses on our left...until.

"Ok, no more time left. Move." I whisper as I start moving forward.

And like that, we silently started moving. Our path was to go straight, then upon getting near the Humvee's hood, turn right in order to end up on the humvee's right side. As there were still a couple of corpses 'stuck' on the left and back side of the car. Guess Saya's shot was a bit too far to the right, causing the corpses on the left side of the car to get stuck by trying to walk into the car. Well, Saeko could probably handle them with ease, but I don't see the need if we can just get inside without doing so. Also, as the car was looking towards the bridge meant I had to turn it around.

The moment we got near the car, I slowed down, raised my hand and pointed to my right, then glanced behind me at the two girls. After seeing both of them nod I turn to look ahead again.

(Ok, I will first unlock the back door, then the front. I...did take the key with me, right?)

Probably because of my past experiences with this certain key, I felt a shiver run up my spine as I dug through my pocket...thankfully, the key was indeed there.

(God I need to stop scaring myself)

I slowly creep to the right side of the car and to the back door. Unlock it, and open it. Then turn around and motion the girls to get inside. After that, I moved aside for the girls to pass before heading towards the front door. And after unlocking that one too, I opened it and got inside.

"Close your door" I say the moment I sit in the driver seat.

"Alright" Saya responds before slamming the door shut, followed right after by me closing mine.

"Ok...here we go" I let out a slight sigh as I insert the key into the ignition switch, and turn the key...

The car shakes for half a second, and the engine comes alive, signaling the surrounding corpses to turn around.

"Nice. So, straight ahead and into the river?" I turn around and 'ask' with a deadpan voice...

"You, are retarded." Saya responds with one hell of a frown as she folds her arms.

(Heh, should have expected as much)

"Wear your seatbelts" I say as I turn to look at the parking brake and the two levers on the shifter.

(Huh? She has the car on HL? Hmm...if I remember correctly. H is for street, HL for places with poor traction, L for hardcore off-road and N is for...uhh...what was N for again?...)

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" Saya shouts behind me.

(Right)

I release the parking brake, bring the central lever to H and then the rightmost lever from N to D.

(Hmm, this shifter does not have a P...then again, we do have a parking brake as a different lever)

I shake my head slightly and turn to look ahead. The corpses had by now closed in to the car...So before starting, I changed the rightmost lever to D2 for good measure. Then, I stepped on the gas.

The car starts moving forward with a loud roar, making a couple of corpses disappear under the hood. I then keep moving forward, straight towards the bridge.

"Where exactly are you going idiot? You know we can't pass the bridge right?" Saya 'asks'.

Glancing behind me I see her leaning between the two front seats...

"Last warning, your seatbelt." I respond, causing Saya to turn to me with one mean-ass frown...

(Suit yourself)

I stop the car, change the shifter to R, then press on the gas again. This time harder, and as the car started picking up speed in reverse, I made a sharp turn by turning the steering wheel to the right, causing the car to 'spin'. Halfway through that spin, I release the pedal and change the lever to D. And the moment the car had made a hundred and eighty-degree turn, I straightened the steering wheel and pressed on the gas again.

The corpses that were behind the car, were now in front of it, and two seconds later. Under and over it...did I mention that I think I heard somebody yelp while all that happened?

I look up to the rearview mirror...that didn't exist...

(Right, the Humvee doesn't have a back window, no point having a mirror there)

With that thought, I slow down the car to a crawl and turn to look behind me...

Saeko...was just staring at me. Saya on the other hand, was laying straight flat down. Her face on Saeko's legs, one of her hands holding the door next to Saeko, and her legs 'on' her seat.

"Don't say I didn't tell you to wear a seatbelt." I say as I try to hold back a chuckle.

"Ughhh, I hate you..." Saya groans as she slowly gets up. I just shake my head slightly and turn to look at the road ahead.

"I will drive ahead for a bit, until we find somewhere quiet to park. Then, we'll see where to go from there" I respond as I slowly press on the gas again...

(Ok, so...we are on the central landmass once again, the same location that the mansion mentioned in the group's notes is at. Now, we have five days for it, that much time 'should' be enough to go there without needing to rush now that we have the car. So for today, I think it's going to be better if we find a place to take an actual break on this landmass...)

I kept my eyes on the road as I kept thinking...

(So, what should our next destination be?)

"Hey...what should I do with the stuck gun?" Saya speaks up after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Right, take off the magazine and give it to me, can't risk having it misfire in the car. After we find a place to stop I will show both of you how to un-jam a gun" I respond as I bring my right hand between the two front seats without turning to look at the girls.

Without hearing an answer, I then felt something being placed on my hand. Bringing my arm back forward, I looked at the MP5 that was now in my hand, without its magazine.

(Ok, let's see what's wrong with you)

I pressed on the brakes and stopped the car to a crawl, then checked the MP5's ejection port…

The bolt head was partly visible. Normally, that part should be completely hidden inside the front part of the receiver, and the bolt carrier, which is the white/gray metallic part you normally see at the ejection port, was a little further back from where it should be.

(I can't see a bullet. But with the way it got stuck, there should be one jammed between the magazine well and the chamber)

I then grab the cocking lever and pull it back completely, until both the bolt carrier and head are hidden on the back part of the receiver. And then, I managed to see the jammed bullet, now that the whole contraption was out of the way. I nod slightly, and after 'locking' the coking lever by pulling it back and up, I give it a hard slap, causing the whole thing to fly forward. This time, taking the bullet normally inside the chamber. Before handing the gun back to Saya I pull the cocking lever back one more time and eject the bullet.

"There are a lot of ways a gun can jam, this was one of em, the next bullet in the magazine got stuck midway. Thankfully, all the jams have the same'ish way of un-jamming so explaining one will do for almost all. Put the extra bullet back in the magazine, but don't load the gun. Big chance it will need cleaning, the most common reason a normally functioning gun can get stuck while moving a bullet from the mag to the chamber is excess gunpowder, or overall dirt in the feed ramp...as the other reasons can be faulty magazines, or bad reloading, among other things. If the gun was used by an officer that was armed like a juggernaut, I don't expect it to be faulty. And you were not manually reloading the gun when it got stuck...Or it might be a bad spring which means we were screwed as we got no replacement parts" I turn to look at Saya as I hand her the now un-jammed gun and bullet.

"O..k" Saya just nods at me and takes both items...glancing around as if she was lost...

(...I just went Kohta mode, didn't I ?)

"Uhh. Also, if possible, somebody check the map, tell me in comparison to the Mansion we need to head to, which 'safe' location we already know is the nearest, or is in our way. The house we stayed at before going to the island, the convenience store, you get the idea" I add up as I look at the two girls. Saeko glances at Saya, who was now staring at the gun.

"I will do it" She then answers as she takes the map that was next to Saya's seat.

"Ok, tell me when, or if, you find something" I respond as I nod, then turn to look ahead and start driving once more.

And like that, we started moving again. While avoiding pure bullshit roads, I tried to keep going straight for as long as I could, while keeping my overall sleep low. That way we would be able to find our location without too much of a hassle...

And after some time has passed...

"Ok...I think I'm done" Saeko speaks up.

"The mansion, as marked on the map, is on the leftmost part of the central landmass, and looking at the landmass's height, it's also about eight tenths from the bottom to the top. The mall we were in is actually near the Mansion..."

"We can't go there, it's overrun, but...does that mean that it's also near the house that we stayed in? The one that we...slept in..." Saya cuts Saeko off, and then trails off...

"I know the mall is overrun, and sadly, no. The mansion is actually 'closer' to the police station and the convenience store, rather than that house. As in order to go there, we will have to go over the Mansion's position in height, and then we will have to go back down. The convenience store is actually closer than the house concerning the height position" Saeko responds.

"And it should be closer to us too, the convenience store I mean." I add up.

"Ughh...so we are sleeping in sleeping bags again?" Saya groans.

"Looks like it" Saeko responds.

"Huhhh, I real...wait...That place has no bathroom!" Saya's eyes went wide the moment the realization dawned on her.

"...We are going to the house." She then adds up, or more likely, commands.

"It's too far" I answer.

"I don't care! I want to take a normal bath in a normal bathroom!" Saya shouts back.

"You 'will' get a bathroom...just not a 'normal' one" I respond.

"The smelly toilets in that place are Not a bathroom! That place doesn't even have a tub!" Saya shouts again.

"I was not talking about them though, Saeko, does that map show any supermarkets?" I ask as I keep driving.

"Umm, only the big ones like the mall. Can I ask why?" She responds.

"The summer season was near, that means most big or medium supermarkets would have their summer gear out for sale, so, we can just 'make' a bathtub from a hard plastic indoors swimming pool. The water still runs, we can fill it up from the faucet in the toilets. With either a long hose or a bucket." I respond.

"That is so stupid in so many ways..." Saya groans.

"Hmm, I think it's a good idea, it will be like a mobile bathtub" Saeko responds.

"Well Saya, if you have another idea, I'm all ears. That's not going to take us to the other side of the continent obviously." I add up as I tilt my head slightly.

"Ughh...f..fine. I still think it's stupid though" Saya caves in and agrees with a groan as she turns to look out of the window as she folds her arms.

"Alright, so. Next target before we go to the convenience store is a supermarket. And, as I asked, are there any supermarkets near us?

"Hmm, well..." Saeko turns to look at the map...and then, silence...

"I know one that is near the convenience store..." Saya speaks up after glancing at Saeko.

"You do? How come, don't you live like, far away from here?" I ask.

"Uhh, well I..." Saya stops in the middle of her sentence and starts glancing around...

"I just do! What does it even matter..." She responds as she darts her head to the window with a pout.

(...Didn't Takashi live around the convenience store?...Hmm, yea I'm pretty sure he did. Uhh, so her 'hidden' crush goes all the way to learning the neighborhood around his house? Jeez, what is she? A stalker?)

"W..what are you being so silent for, say something idiot!" Saya blurts out after a couple of seconds of silence.

"Well, you know da way, so I'm waiting for your input here" I respond.

"F..fine, I'm coming to the front seats to tell you where to go. Can I have the map?" I felt my seat 'move' as Saya spoke, and after some surfing behind me, I saw her popping up to my right, between the two seats.

"You know I can just stop the car for you to come to the front normally..." I say as I glance at her.

"I can do this just fine." Saya responds as she tries to balance herself as she shakily tries to move to the front.

(Not if I make a sharp turn you won't...but then I won't hear the end of it)

I hold myself back from chuckling, otherwise, I'd have one angry hamster...I mean Saya, after me.

"Uff...see, told you it's fine" After finally sitting on the passenger seat, Saya turns to glance at me before looking back at the map.

"So, where are we?" She asks right after.

"I have not taken a single turn other than the first right turn I took after we left the bridge." I respond.

"Ok...uhh...the bridge was. Here, so we should be around...here" She points at the map, somewhere around the coastline on the right part of the central map. She then turns to look out of the window.

"Ok, keep going straight, there should be a small bridge that goes over a stream later ahead, from there, I will tell you where to go" Saya nods as she keeps looking between the map and the outside.

"Got it." I respond.

"And after we reach the supermarket? What then?" Saeko asks right after.

"Hmm, one of the three of us will stay to watch the car, the other two will head inside to get what we need. Or, if we find a place to hide the car, we will all go inside. After seeing how many corpses are strolling there obviously. Oh, and since you are on the back seats. If it's possible, can you check for two more bags and the Scar-H?" I answer.

"Umm, the Scar-H is?" Saeko asks back.

"A gun, bigger than the MP5. orange or rather, beige looking." I respond as I glance at her.

"Alright." Saeko nods and turns to look at the bags in the back of the car.

"By the way, the watch. You two don't have it right?" I ask as I keep looking at the street.

"No, Rei's mom was the one who had it" Saeko responds.

"And they didn't leave it behind" Saya adds up.

"The supermarket might have clocks that are not completely digital" Saeko keeps looking through the bags as she speaks.

"Yea, Saya you said you found batteries from the mall right?" I ask again.

"I did, there should be inside a side pocket in the duffle bag with the gas canisters" Saya nods at me and turns to glance at the bags.

"Should we take some with us?" Saeko asks as she turns to us.

"Yea, a couple. To check any electronic devices that we might find, though if we are lucky, we might find more batteries in there...if we can go inside that is" I respond as I tilt my head.

"Uhh, if we could just find an ice maker that works with batteries. I'd kill for a cold bottle of water right now" Saya lets out a sigh as she speaks.

"Well if we find one, we can take it" I respond.

"No you idiot, an ice maker draws too much energy, there are no battery-powered ice makers" Saya responds with a groan.

"Solar panels, car-sized batteries and a converter then" I answer as I ignore Saya's remark.

"Yea...if we can just find that stuff. Setting up will be the easy part, as I have written down how to do so in the textbook" Saya nods slightly as she keeps looking at the map.

"Well, that. Or going to the island with the working generator" I respond casually.

"W..we are not going back there!" Saya instantly shouts.

"Huh, why?" I 'ask' as I turn to glance at her, her face being as pink as her hair.

"J..just because you pervert!" She shouts back.

"Hey, what 'you' saw. Does not make 'me', a pervert...then again, I don't even remember what I saw in the first place in order to have an opinion" I respond as I glance at her.

"Yea, yea, nice excuse. Of course you would say you 'don't' remember. Everybody had about the same type of hallucination, what makes you so special to have something 'different' and then by 'chance' you also, don't remember...A..and I didn't see anything!" Saya responds as she frowns and folds her arms.

"First you tell me all of you saw the same thing, then you tell me you saw nothing?...Anyway, the only thing I remember seeing was a..." As I kept speaking...I felt something tickling my nose...

"A, FACHOO!" And I end up sneezing as I turn my head away from Saya and press on the breaks.

"Hey! You're lucky you are wearing that mask idiot!" Saya frowns even more as she shouts.

"Sorry, couldn't let go of the wheel, might have ended up in a wall..." I respond as I shake my head.

"As I was saying. The only thing I remember is the cave." I shrug slightly as I finish my sentence.

"But, that doesn't mean that what you saw, and don't remember was...different from what the rest of us saw..." I hear another voice speak up from the back of the car...

(You in on this too now Saeko?)

"Uhh... I can't..." I stop for a second.

"Deny that" Then continue...

"Pervert" Saya responds in a low tone as she folds her arms and turns to look at the road ahead.

"Hey, I said I can't deny it, I didn't say I accept or like it" I respond as I narrow my eyes...

And after a few seconds of silence...

"So the idea of you seeing 'us' like that. Displeases you?" Saeko, 'asks'...and both she and Saya turn silent. While I could not see Saeko as she was on the back seats and we had no rearview mirror, Saya was now constantly glancing at me, her arms still folded and her head slightly lowered.

(God...damn it Saeko. Way to use my words against me...You know what, fine...let's play ball)

"No, it doesn't" I answer flatly.

"P...pp..pervert " Saya ended up tripping in her own word multiple times before turning to look at the window next to her, 'hugging' herself even tighter as she looked away from me. Saeko...didn't respond.

"What? Didn't like my answer after all?" I ask as I let go of the gas and turn my head slightly to the right, trying to look behind me.

Saeko closes her eyes and smiles as she puts her hand behind her neck, then runs her hand under her long hair.

"I am sure that, you already know the answer to that, Naier..." Saeko responds as she opens her eyes, the smile still on her face...

"Aaaa, anyway! T...the street, focus on t..t..the street idiot! B..bridge! Look for the stupid damn b,bridge! " Saya shouts after a few seconds as she starts pointing her index finger all over the place, her face even redder than before…

(Holy shit, Saya is actually freaking out here...)

"Right" I respond as I look back ahead and press on the gas again.

(And, she is not wrong... I do know the answer, ever since the clinic. Or at least, I hope I do.)


	39. It's a supermarket

About fifteen minutes had passed since we successfully found the bridge that Saya mentioned. From there, we took a turn to the left and kept going straight. Or well, we tried to go straight, but the road ended up being blocked. So we instead took a right turn before turning left again two intersections later.

(Based on Saya's information, the supermarket is next to the stream. It's three floors in height, yet the structure itself is not supposed to be very big, about two medium- to small sized houses in width and three to three and a half in length...or, from the way she explained it, I'd say about twenty to thirty meters in width and fifty to sixty in length. Not too big, but not small either...)

"Turn left here, it should be around here..." Saya cuts off my thought as she points towards the left, her eyes staying focused on the map.

"I just hope that place ain't a corpse hangout" I respond as I slow down the car and take the turn she just mentioned.

"Hey, you asked me for a supermarket, so I'm telling you where to find one. It's not my fault if it's overrun" Saya responds as she turns to me with a slight frown...

"Of course it's not, or are you the one responsible for this outbreak?" I ask as I glance at her and raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not even going to answer a question that's that stupid...keep your eyes on the road..." She answers as she groans slightly before turning to look back at the map.

I just laugh through my nose and turn to look back at the street...

And as I kept going forward, I noticed a different building in the distance, one that was visibly bigger than the ones around it. It also seemed to have some open space next to it.

"Hmm...The building also has a blue roof if I remember correctly" Saya adds up as she keeps looking at the map.

"In that case, I think we found it" I respond as I keep looking at the building in the distance.

Saya lifts her head to my response, then leans toward me as she keeps looking through the front windshield. She narrowed her eyes and kept staring at the building as it slowly grew in size the closer we got to it...until...

"Yea, that's the one" She responds with a slight nod before leaning back on her seat.

"Ok. Let's see how bad things are over there." I shut down the engine and let the car roll to a stop. While that was happening, I turned to Saeko.

"Did you find any binoculars while looking at the stuff back there?" I ask, Saeko shakes her head.

"No, the only set we had. I think Kohta had it on him" She responds.

"Hmm, and the Mp5 and Scar H don't have the level of zoom we need, they lack any type of magnification attachment" I put my hand on the back of my neck as I turn to look at the street ahead.

By now, we were close enough to have a clear view of the building and its parking field...

"We can just check it on foot, can't we? I don't see any corpses roaming outside, only a couple that are laying on the ground" Saeko responds as she leans between the two front seats.

"That is why I 'don't' want to check it on foot" I answer as I shake my head. Causing Saeko to turn her head towards me with a questioning look.

"The lack of corpses means it might have survivors inside..." Saya adds up as she folds her arms.

"Exactly. And if it has survivors that are able to keep the nearby location clear of corpses, it might also mean that they are armed. Of course, the ones on the ground might also be leftovers from the unlucky humans that were here when the outbreak first started. Or, They might be 'alive' corpses, waiting for somebody to pass...but I don't want to risk going there on foot. If that place has survivors, who knows if they're friendly or not." I fold my arms as I keep speaking.

"And I suppose using the car is a no go as well? As you didn't even mention it." Saya asks a few seconds later.

"Look around us, driving there, even if I shut the engine before we get 'too close', will make everything crawl up to the field around the store. Plus, if it has survivors that are hostile, they will see us before we see them. Point is null, we still get jumped on" I respond as I shake my head.

"Well we'll have to take a risk then, there are no other shops that are this big around here." Saya closes her eyes and pushes her glasses with her index finger before turning to look at me...

"I can go check it." Saeko speaks up.

"Out of the question, I'm not letting you go there by yourself. Uhh, We'll just do it with the safest method available" I respond as I glance at Saeko. Then knock on the front windshield.

"We will drive up the front door with the Humvee. While this thing is not an 'up-armored' version. The glass it has is thick, so I suspect it's at least partially protected.

Stores like that one have glass front doors. We can check it to see if it's barricaded, along with seeing how the insides look. That obviously means that we'll be putting ourselves on a timer though, as we'll go with the engine running, in case we need to bail." I add up.

"So, we just drive up there after all?" Saya asks right after as she tilts her head and raises an eyebrow.

"Yes, but we need to make up the plans on how we will act right now" As I finished speaking, we heard a single 'thud' from the backside of the Humvee.

"They reached the car?" Saeko asks as she turns to look behind her.

"Doesn't matter, we are going to move forward, not in reverse. And they ain't getting through the trunk, except if they can somehow claw through steel." I answer.

"I see, sorry for interrupting you" Saeko responds as she turns to me and nods.

(You know, I've noticed that Saeko is usually very polite, is it because of her upbringing? Or because of her years-old 'act'?)

"Naier?" Saeko, probably due to my silence, speaks up again.

"It's alright. So, as I was saying, we need to make up the plan on how we will act right now. That being, if it's inhabited, if it's overrun, or if it's completely abandoned" I respond as I nod.

"Well, obviously if it's inhabited we should high tail it as fast as we can. Even if they aren't hostile, the people there will see the car and what it has inside. While I don't want to attack them if they won't pick a fight, I'm not about to start handing off our supplies to every single random Joe." Saya speaks up as she folds her arms under her chest.

"Agreed on that." I nod.

"True, I find such a decision to be the best for us as well." Saeko adds up.

"If it's abandoned, or overrun...We can block the front door with the car and all of us go inside. That way once we return, we can instantly go to the car without having to deal with the probably infested road by then. So we won't have to worry about the ones outside like that. Only the ones inside, if it's overrun that is." Saya starts speaking again as she lowers her head slightly and closes her eyes.

"Hmm, good call, except for one thing" I responded, causing Saya to open her eyes and look at me.

"We can't leave the car unattended while it'll be in full view. And, if the insides have corpses, then the one on the car can snipe them off while staying inside the hatch. For one, Corpses can't climb up the Humvee so they will be safe to shoot, and second, we don't know in what position we'll be when returning. We might end up having to shoot corpses with the Humvee being behind them. And I don't want to find out whether this Humvee can withstand bullets by shooting at it." I tap on the car's steering wheel as I continue speaking...

"...Uhh...you have a point. So who..."

"I don't know how to use a gun, there will be no point if I stay in the car" Saeko cuts Saya off as she turns to me, much to Saya's frowning dismay.

"You have a point." I say as I glance at her, then turn to stare at Saya. She looks at me, then at Saeko, then back at me.

"Yea fine ok, So me and Saeko will..."

"You are staying in the car." It was I that cut Saya off this time, much to her even bigger frowning dismay.

"No I'm not, I can't drive and you are a better shot than me." She responds with a frown.

"You won't have to drive, worse case you will have to shoot, but without the danger of them reaching you, it's actually the reason why you 'should' shoot instead of me. Also there are two more things I want you to do, and one of em, only you can really do" I respond. Saya stayed quiet as she stared at me, the frown, or more like, the pout still being obvious on her face.

(Also, you're not exactly frontline fighter material)

"First, I need you to mark any locations you remember on the map, gas stations, other stores that might have things we could use, stuff like that" I point at the map on her lap as I speak.

"And what makes you think I remember this area so well idiot?" Saya responds as she narrows her eyes.

"You knew about the supermarket, but yea, I understand. In that case, if you can't remember anything it's fine, just do the second thing then. Set up our night lookout location, and shifts" I nod slightly as I keep speaking...only to see both Saeko and Saya staring at me with a blank stare...

"What. Just because 'we' go to sleep does not mean everybody else does so too. We're only three people now, getting sneak attacked while we're asleep is much more dangerous than from when we were almost ten." I respond as I fold my arms.

"Hmm, makes sense." Saeko nods as she answers...Saya, just keeps staring at me with a frown.

"I'm going to give you a double night shift..." She mumbles as she turns to look at the map.

(...Huh, moody much?)

With that thought, I turn to look at the supermarket.

"Let's see..." I turn the car engine on and press on the gas.

"The main door of the store is right now to our right, so if we keep going straight, we will end up seeing it from the right doors. Stay on the right seats and check it, I will stop only for a couple of seconds unless I have confirmation that it has corpses inside or that it's abandoned." Saeko nods as she listens to me and disappears on the back seats, Saya does not answer, but she turns to look at the supermarket nonetheless.

The moment we passed the parking field, I steered to the right, climbing over a small patch of greenery and going into the supermarket's parking field. After that I kept going straight, until the door was just a few meters away. Where I steered sharply to the right and started to slow down. Until the closed glass door was next to us.

(If people are in there, the way I'm driving might make them think we're aggressive...not that I see a problem with that)

"You have five seconds" I say as I stop the car. The girls didn't reply, they just stayed glued to their respective windows.

(4)

"I see something moving inside, but it's too dark to make out" Saeko speaks up.

(3)

(2)

(1)

"Time's up" I turn the steering wheel to the left, press the gas and...

"Wait! It's a corpse! It's a corpse! There are zombies inside!" Saya shouts causing me to press on the break and switch to R.

I turned the wheel to the left, and drove reverse. Once the car was looking at the glass supermarket doors, switched to D and moved forward, until the hood touched the glass door.

"Hmm, this is the first time you called them something else other than 'Them' " I respond as I close the engine and glance at Saya.

"I had to make sure you understood and didn't drive off like an idiot" Saya folds her arms as she turns to me with a slight grin.

"We should move, timer or not we should not dawdle" Saeko speaks up as she reaches for the hatch.

"Huh, Of course you would want to hurry up 'now'..." Saya pouts as she whines in a low tone and turns to look at the window to her right. Her mood making a full turn compared to seconds ago.

"Saya, keep an eye around. I will take one of the radios, if we lose contact because of the range. Three clicks mean 'get back pronto' " I ignore Saya's remark as I move towards the back. Saeko had already moved to the car's roof.

"I know, I know get moving..." Saya responds with a slight groan.

"And Try not to ruin my night shift too much ahh?" I add up as I grab one of the walky-talkies that were on her 'old' seat.

"Hum, I will keep you up all night, stupid" She answers with a slight huff as she leans between the two front seats, the grin coming back on her face.

" 'You' will keep me up all night Saya?" I respond with a slight smirk as I reach for the hatch and turn to look at her.

"G..get lost you pervert!" She shouts as her eyes widen for a second before she starts glaring at me, her face taking a shade of red...

After I got on the roof I turned to look at Saeko, who just tilted her head at me and smiled.

"Let's go?" She asks as she hands me the Scar-H, a flashlight, and my bag. I just nodded before taking the items and walking on to the car's hood.

"The door is closed shut" I give the door a slight push as I speak.

"Fuck it" Before Saeko could respond, much less get on the hood, I lift the scar-H, and with a strong hit from the gun's stock, the glass shattered into pieces.

"We're already being loud as hell, no point being sneaky about it now" I crouch slightly and enter the building, Saeko following behind me.

Once we entered the Supermarket I looked around. Now that we were inside I had a much better view of the dimly lit place, as I didn't have the sun glare on my face, letting my eyes adapt to the darker environment...

Our 'entry point' was right behind the register counters. There were six of them, lined up horizontally, behind them I could see five aisles, all extending forward towards the wall opposite of our location. Three between rows of double racks and two in the corners. The side ones had a double rack on one side and an in-wall refrigerated rack/open fridge on the other, or well, what used to be refrigerated.

Most of the remaining items I could see on the racks, or the ground around them, were foodstuffs. And judging from the smell, not the edible type ones.

Now, on the right wall, just over the rightmost cashier counter, I could also see an elevator, about ten meters away from us. Deeper down, near the end of that same wall, was another elevator door, and right where that wall ended and the far end wall started, I could see a heavy-looking metal door, one that looked a lot like the one that led to the stairs in the mall. But, you know what they say, nothing's ever easy.

Between us and that door...yea, about ten / fifteen corpses that I could see between the rightmost aisle and the one next to it, no idea if there were any more hiding behind the aisles, or behind the door itself. And as we were not exactly silent, all of em were heading our way.

"Maybe loud and stupid was not such a good idea..." I groan as I look at the corpses.

"Should we fall back?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"No, let's check the aisles to the left, maybe we can go past them, worse case, I shoot. Though that will get a horde on the Humvee's backside" I shake my head and go through the nearest counter, the bokken on the ready in case I get jumped on.

After that we ran through to the left, checking each and every aisle...and...

"No good, while not all of the aisles are occupied, corpses have taken over the other side of the store completely, no getting through them" I respond after glancing around one more time.

"It's a shame the elevators don't work, we could have just skipped all this. But, I don't really mind" Saeko slowly draws her sword as a grin appears on her face.

"Wait, the elevators. Maybe we 'can' use them" I motion Saeko with my hand and start running towards the elevator that was next to the rightmost counter.

" We, can? How, there is no electricity" Saeko asks the obvious question as she puts her half-drawn blade back into its sheath. She also sounded a bit, disappointed?

"Yes, but not in the way you think" I respond as I reach the door and check it.

"Hey you two! They're starting to get close! What are you doing!" Saya shouts from over the Humvee's hatch.

Ignoring the shouting chundere, I stab the bokken between the two folding metal doors of the elevator, and then twist it, causing a small opening to appear, I then let go of the bokken and put both hands on one door and start pulling it. Saeko looks at me for a couple of seconds before running next to me, grabbing the other door.

"Leave that one, we can fit through just by opening this one halfway, just keep an eye on the elevator opening, in case it's 'occupied'" I respond as I glance at her, She nods and backs away before leaning to look through the opening…

"It's too dark inside...but…" She puts her hands on my door, and starts pushing it while occasionally glancing at the opening…

"I see a lot of blood inside, but nothing that looks like a body, standing or otherwise" Saeko keeps looking through the gap as she speaks.

The moment the door opened enough for us to pass I let it go, grab the broken and go inside the blood-soaked elevator, then look up.

(Come on, come on, elevators always have a hatch for the maintenance crew...)

After a quick scan, I noticed one square board in the ceiling's corner that seemed to have an outline, compared to the rest which was all one unified plate. I walk up under it, and give it a strong stab with the bokken, causing it to detach from the elevator and reveal an opening.

(gotcha)

"We'll have to climb up a metallic rope, if you think you want to stay back, now it's the time" I respond as I turn to Saeko, who was also inside the elevator.

"I'm coming with you" She answers plainly.

I nod and crouch down slightly, then get in position to leg her up.

"I know you can probably just jump up there like a ninja, but I gotta do something to not feel like I'm totally useless around here" I chuckle slightly as I look at her.

"Well, I actually really prefer it when I can have your help." She answers with a slight smile as she puts her boot on my hands.

"I see" With that, I get up and raise my hands, lifting her up.

She goes over the opening, and seconds later, I feel my hands lighten as she lifts herself up and completely disappears into the dark hole, only to appear with her hand extending towards me.

"I would like to believe. That you also feel the same?" She asks as I take her hand.

"Obviously" I answered as I held myself back from chuckling for a second time. Not wanting my answer to seem like a 'joke'.

Taking Saeko's hand, I also climbed up the hole in the elevator.

"Holy shit, it's pitch black here" I look around the claustrophobic vertical 'hallway' as I speak, then put the bokken back in it's 'sheath'.

Normally you see these places being a very open space with the elevators hanging in the air by a bunch of cables, well not this one, this was pretty much a tight fit.

Just then, Saeko opens her flashlight while pointing it upwards.

"Ok, now we climb this rope and...uhh...none of the other doors are open either…" I stop in the middle of my sentence as I also look up.

"At least this means we won't have them falling on our heads" Saeko responds.

"Hey, are you two alright? They have gathered in front of the elevator you just entered" I hear the radio go live just as Saeko finishes speaking.

"Yea we're fine, we won't be exiting the elevator, we're going up" I answer.

"Ok. This place usually has it's seasonal items on the third floor anyway." Saya answers back.

"Got it, thanks" I responded before shoving the radio back into my pocket.

"Third floor...no pressure. Just a closed door that I have no idea how we'll open and a drop that will probably be fatal if we slip and fall while we try…" I say as I open my flashlight and look back up.

"Humm, you take me to the most exciting places" Saeko responds with a slight giggle in a joking manner.

"Yea, roller coasters with no safety measures" I answer as I grab the metallic rope and give it a strong tug, and then with a jump, grab on to it.

"Sounds scary, maybe I would need you to hold my hand" She replies as she keeps smiling.

"With how much fun you seem to be having right now? I find that hard to believe" I respond as I glance behind me, seeing her right under me on the rope.

"That's because. If I can be honest, I missed the moments when it was just the two of us, I'm excited" She replies with a smile on her face…

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty now? Because...you know.." I let out a silent sigh as I speak. Saeko stays quiet for a few seconds…

"...I, trust you. That you will keep your promise to me. But, I'm still a woman. I do, get jealous..." She answers in a slightly more serious tone.

(...She's putting it lightly. I mean, think of it the other way around, what if it was Saeko that had both me and Takashi...yea, not so fun now is it?)

I stop climbing and turn my head to her.

"Thanks for putting up with me" I say as I keep looking at her, she just tilts her head and keeps smiling as she closes her eyes.

"Just remember. A jealous person can just, snap, if not catered for" As she talked I think I saw her smile turn into a small grin the moment she opened her eyes.

"...Noted" I respond with a deadpan voice before continuing to climb the metallic rope.

(Ok I just felt a shiver run up my spine with the way she said that.)

After that we reached the third elevator door in relative silence.

Once it was next to me in height, I stopped climbing and turned to look at it.

(Hmm it has some beam frames protruding from the wall, I could stand there. Thing is, how do I go to them? Jumping is out of the question. High chance I will just end up bouncing off the wall, the beam is too narrow)

"Uhh, got any ideas on how to go on the support beams" I ask as I point around me in a circle.

"Hmm...I got one" Saeko replies a few seconds later.

"No jumping, too risky" I answered.

"It does not include jumping" she chuckles as she replies.

"Ok, what do we do then?" I ask after nodding and turning to look down towards her.

"Stand still" She says as she grabs on to my shoes, and pulls herself up. Until she was holding on to me with her head next to my shoulder.

She then wraps her legs around my waist, right under the bulletproof vest. And leans backward while turning her upper body to look towards the door.

(...I should have asked her what 'she' was thinking of doing...Ok me, ignore everything you feel from the waist down, including what you feel on your back...One wrong step, and broken legs will be the 'best' outcome)

"Got it" Just as she says that she 'let's go' of me, and ends up hanging right under the door. She then climbs up, ending with her back to me.

"Ekhem, Ok. We need to open the door now. Just, be careful, you have no place to hold on over there." I turn my sight to the closed elevator door as I 'clear' my throat.

Saeko nodded and as her flashlight was now on her hip, under the belt that held the katana, she placed both her hands on the spot where the two doors touched, then tried to pry it open...with little success, her hands kept slipping. She shakes her head and takes off her gloves before trying again, again with no success…

"Wait, got an idea, wear your gloves." I say as I shove the flashlight in the side pocket of my pants and pull the bokken from the bag's side straps, then extend it to her.

"I don't think I will be able to jam it between the doors while being in the position I'm in" She replies as she takes the wooden blade.

"You won't, just place it between the doors for a sec, I think I can kick it from this distance." I respond as I slightly shake my head.

Saeko nods and does as I asked.

(Ok, let's see)

I turn towards the door and let go one hand from the metal rope to balance myself, then wrap the rope around my right leg, lift my left leg, and 'stomp' the blade's hilt.

With a relatively loud thud, the wooden blade digs between the two doors. I guess the tension of the rope must have been pretty high, as I didn't even wobble during all this.

"It's through, let me do the rest" Saeko puts one of her hands in the slit between the doors and starts pulling the door. Taking the bokken out the moment the door started to move.

"Wait, don't open it anymore" I respond as I take the flashlight out and aim it at the small opening…

(...Can't see any corpses, but the opening is too small to see effectively)

"Ok, keep going, I will tell you if you need to stop, and throw the bokken through the opening so you can use both hands" I glance at Saeko as I speak, she nods and starts pulling again after passing the bokken through the gap.

And slowly, I started to see the insides of the third floor...or well the rack that was facing the door, but more importantly, no corpses.

"Ok, looks clear from here. We can fit through that gap, but can't see the corners, be careful" I say as I keep aiming the flashlight at the opening. Saeko nods and crouches down, then peeks through the gap…

"Three of them on the left end of the wall, they are coming towards us. Wait here" She gets up and slides through the gap, then turns to the left…

"...Oh, ok. I'm just gonna, hang out here…" I respond to nobody in particular…

(I think I just heard a 'ta dum tss'...god my jokes are crap)

And seconds later, I hear a relatively loud thud, followed by another, and another...

Saeko then appears before the gap, sheathing her sword. She lays down on the floor, the upper part of her body going over the door's gap, and extends her arm to me.

I let myself slide down a little to come to the same height as her hand, and grab it.

Then let go of the rope completely. And end up sort of 'slamming' the wall under the door.

"Are you alright?" I hear Saeko ask.

"Yea, I'm fine, me and landings just don't get along very well, I can take it from here" I respond as I grab the support beam with my other hand and release my grip on Saeko's arm.

She nods and lets go of me, then slides back after lifting herself up, because you know. Her chest kinda didn't 'fit in', for her to just slide backward.

After I hoisted myself up and went through the elevator's open door, I picked the bokken off the ground and looked to my left, at three decapitated corpses. Then looked behind me, at the empty aisle.

The place looked identical to the first floor, except that instead of the registers, it had one extra row of two-sided racks in their place, and the refrigerated selves were replaced by hanging hooks, also, everything on this aisle was 'summertime'. A butt-load of lotions and sunscreens along with bottles I could not really make out the use of on one side. Along with swimsuits, sandals and various types of hats on the hangars on the opposite wall. But most importantly…

"This place is completely untouched, compared to the first floor that was wrecked and empty at least" I whisper as I look around.

"Maybe only the locals came here after the outbreak? So they went to the first floor that seemed to have food and perishables?" Saeko responds with a question.

"Yea, or the second floor is a bloody mess" I answer as I look towards the closed metal door on the far right that leads downstairs.

"Could be, if there are more corpses on the floor below it would make sense why this one looks untouched, as I think we are also the first ones to come up here by using the elevator, as the door was closed" Saeko responds as she looks around.

"It also seems to be a bit darker here" I add up as I turn to look at the windowed walls to our left.

"Hmm, I am pretty sure that the third-floor windows, when I saw them from outside, looked like mirrors. Maybe they are covered with a one-way film?" Saeko again answers with a question.

"Possibly, would explain why this floor is darker too" I nod before looking at the bokken.

(Hmm, there are some scratches on the 'blade', still, not too shabby considering what I just did with it.)

"In any case, don't spread out, let's check every aisle and door in this floor first, staircase excluded, if it has corpses, I don't want them coming in here until we're done" I tap my free hand lightly with the bokken as I turn to look at Saeko, she responds with a silent nod.

With that, we moved from our aisle and went left, to the row that had replaced the cashier counters. After checking both sides of that row, we then entered its right side and checked each aisle to our right as we moved forward…

(As empty as it gets, the only corpses on the floor were the ones Saeko killed. Hmm, why were they all in one spot?)

I stop in my tracks and motion Saeko to turn around as I start walking back the way we came, she tilts her head questionably before turning following me. After reaching the end of the aisle we were in, I turn to look to my right, at the corner of the building where the corpses met Saeko, and their end, for a second time.

And, there was a door there…

"Saeko, where are these three in front of that door?" I ask as I point at the metal door.

"Hmm, I think so? I didn't really check as they were already moving by the time I saw them" She responds as she folds her arms.

I nod and move to the door…

(...There are bloody handprints on it, rather cliche, but it means they tried to get inside. And failed)

I then try to open the door, only for it to get stuck after opening a couple centimeters.

"It's barricaded from the inside?...huh" I back off from the door and turn to Saeko.

"Let's leave it for now. Shopping first." I point back at the rest of the room.

"Alright, So what should we look for?" Saeko nods as she asks.

"Hmm, The hard plastic swimming pool, anything we can use as curtains for it, like waterproof sheets, normal towels, electric devices that might still work. I got batteries in my bag to check em.." I stop for a minute as I fold my arms.

"We can also check if this place has any mini generators or binoculars, though I doubt it" I nod slightly before looking back at Saeko.

"Alright, should we split up?" She asks right after.

"Yea, but in the same aisle, stay within sight" I respond, Saeko nods once again.

With that, we moved back into the previous aisle we were in, the one that led to the other aisles from its right side.

(Hmm this aisle is mostly flip flops, hats, and plastic shoulder bags...nothing we need)

We then moved to the first aisle in the line, the one by the wall.

(Like I saw when I first entered this floor, the left racks here seem to be full of bottles and the hangers on the right have swimsuits, hats, and sandals)

I moved closer to the rack with the bottles while Saeko casually strolled towards the swimsuits.

(Sunscreens, lipsticks, hand creams, bug repellents. This place has a rather big variety for its si...wait?...hand creams?)

I narrow my eyes and look at the lined up plastic tubes as I fold my arms…until my eyes stopped in front of a Strawberry hand cream tube.

(Right!...I promised Saya I would get her a new one in the cop station didn't I?...Heh, my selective memory sometimes amazes me)

I smile slightly as I pocket a couple of them, some with different flavors, because why not, they're free after all.

Turning around, I see Saeko with a female swimsuit in her hands.

"You're going to get a swimsuit?" I ask. Saeko shakes her head slightly then puts it back on the hangar.

"No, I already have one, the one from the island" She replies as she turns to me.

(...'swimsuit'...she would look less provoking if she walked around naked rather than in that to be honest…)

"Now that I think of it, you don't have one right? You never wore one during our time on the island" She asks after a few seconds.

"No, I didn't. And I'm damn glad about it." I respond as I fold my arms. Saeko just puts her hand over her mouth as she lets go of a giggle.

"Maybe you can get one now." She turns to look at the swimsuits as she speaks.

"Uhh, why not" I shrug slightly as I walk up to the wall and grab a pair of black board shorts, then take off my bag and shove them in...only to realize that my bag actually had a lot of free space inside, more than it should..

"Huh? Did my bag increase in size? It feels like there's way more space here than there should be" I tilt my head as I raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, I took off some things that we would probably not need, to make space for the things we might get from here. I took off the extra clothes for example. I...I'm sorry I didn't ask for your permission, I thought..."

"Don't, it was a good decision. Come on let's go on" I cut her off as I close the bag and turn around.

"Umm, Naier?" Saeko speaks up the moment I turn my back to her. Causing me to turn my head back.

"You won't make sure it fits you?" She asks as she keeps looking at me.

"These things have laces rather than elastic waistbands, it should be fine as long as it's not comically larger or smaller" I respond as I shrug.

"Oh...I see" Saeko blinks a couple of times before she starts walking towards me…

With that, we went to the second aisle, this one. This one had a variety of inflatables on one side and toys on the other. Stuff like plastic buckets, shovels, small ships...

"Hmm, you think the hard plastic pools are here?" Saeko peeks over my shoulder as she speaks.

"No idea, but, we can use the normal ones too" I respond as I walk up to the inflatables. Saeko tilts her head and follows me.

"Put one under a sleeping bag and you got yourself a bed that doesn't suck." I add up as I crouch down and check a couple of boxes with bed sized inflatables.

"Hmm, nice thinking. But, won't they be too noisy? These things usually squeak way too much" Saeko lowers herself to my height by also crouching down, until her knees are touching her chest, she then wraps her arms around her legs.

"Depends how you set them up, cover the bottom with towels to avoid punctures and soften the ground, then cover the top with a sheet or more towels to avoid skin contact with the plastic, and it should be relatively quiet. The material and how inflated it is also matters" I respond as I take a box out of the shelf and turn it around.

"Have you used them like that before? You seem knowledgeable on the subject" She asks as she keeps looking at me.

"Yes, a couple of times" I responded.

"Hmm..." She hums silently as she also takes a box and adjusts her posture by sitting seiza style, so she can place it on her legs.

I casually turn my head towards Saeko and look at the box she picked...

(…That one is, for 'two' people...)

"You will need a pump for this thing, you 'don't' want to fill it up by blowing it" I respond as I put my finger on the box she was holding.

"You don't mind that it's meant for two people?" She 'asks' with a slight smile.

"It's better than trying to share a couch..." I respond. Saeko stares at me for a few seconds, then her eyes slightly open as she starts blushing, as if she 'just' remembered that she actually slept on me when we were in the rich folk's house.

"You really don't like giving straightforward answers, don't you?" She answers back as she tilts her head slightly, the blush still on her face.

"Not going to deny that" I responded as I folded my arms.

"And that couch. Was the best sleep I got in years…" Saeko then speaks up as she glances away from me.

"So that's why you drooled on me?" I 'ask' as I raise my hand.

Saeko darts her head back to me and starts to actually blush now.

"That, it was an accident. I don't normally do that, really. It was just, I was tired and I fell asleep in a weird pose. I'm surprised myself that it actually happened." Saeko was now hugging the cardboard box she had on her legs. Something that I think she did seem to realize, as she was way too focused on explaining herself to me.

(God I'm getting cuteness overload here)

"Well, guess we'll find out if that's true tonight" I responded as I pointed at the box she was now hugging.

Saeko blinks a couple of times before she lowers her head to look at the box…

"Thank you…" She didn't move her head as she whispered...

"Wait. I get to sleep with the girl that was ranked as the sexiest student in the academy, and I'm the one getting thanked? The world is damn friggin weird I tell ya" I respond as I frown slightly.

Saeko just raised her head and looked at me with a weird expression.

"I was ranked. What?" She asks as she keeps staring at me.

"The sexiest student in the academy? You didn't know?" I ask back

"N..no, I didn't pay too much attention to school gossip…" She responds with a slightly surprised expression.

(While she did distance herself from others, this, is almost comical…)

"Well now you do, though most of your fans are walking corpses by now. Then again, I should be glad about that, if they knew I kissed you, they would try to gut me alive. Well they'll still try to do that, but not for the same reason" I answer with a slight shrug.

"Not if I gut them first" She replies as her expression returns to normal. Well, if you call smiling with a blushing face 'normal' for Saeko.

(God, why must this happen in the middle of an infested supermarket while we have the car attracting a shitstorm downstairs...I see the friggin death flag-raising if this goes on)

"So, uhhh. I don't mean to be the mood killer here but. We are short on time...how about we continue this, chat, in a place where we are not on a horde timer?" I ask as I place my hand on her shoulder and stroke it slightly.

"I understand, and, I'll look forward to it" She closes her eyes and nods.

(Talk about going commander cockblock on myself...)

"So, uhh, we're going to need a single bed as well. For two reasons" I say as I get up and look around for a more expensive inflatable.

"Hmm, two reasons?" Saeko asks as she opens the package and puts the folded inflatable in her bag.

"Yea, one is, there are three of us. It's called a two-people size for a reason. And second, the third one of the 'us' won't let me hear the end of it if we bring only the double-sized one" I respond as I turn to Saeko and fold my arms.

She puts her hand over her mouth as she starts giggling.

"I guess you're right" She answers before turning to look at the other inflatables.

"So, you said we also need a pump?" She asks as she gets up while still looking at the boxes in display.

"Yea, I didn't see any pumps being sold separately yet, so look for expensive inflatables, they might have one inside, we also still need the tub" I answer.

"Hmm, how about we check the rest of the floor first?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"That could work too." I answer as I grab the most expensive 'single bed' inflatable, open it, and shove it in my bag.

With that, we moved to the third Aisle. This one seemed to have 'furniture' for the lack of a better term, foldable chairs, tents, plastic tables and electrical appliances.

"Hmm, a foldable chair 'could' be useful if we stay in a place with no chairs. But in any case, let's check the electric stuff first" I say as I open my bag and grab a couple of batteries.

Saeko nods, takes some of them and moves ahead of me, towards the end of the aisle.

I started by looking at the ones next to me…

(...God the selves here look like a circus. Fans, juice makers, ice makers, cameras, portable air conditioners...blenders?...no I think that's an ice cream maker...but, all of these things have cable cord...hmm?)

I stop browsing along the stuff and grab a small box with a palm-sized fan, take it out and then flip it around.

(This definitely takes batteries)

I open the bottom cover and place a battery in the hole, then close the cover and turn the thing on…

(Nada)

I take the battery back, throw the burnt fan behind me and pick another one.

(Nope, let's try a different brand)

I then pick a fan from a different stack and put the battery inside it...a silent whirring sound starts the moment I close the cover and press on the switch.

(Ohh, it's alive)

I then pick a couple more fans of the same brand and test them out…

Three out of the five turned out to be alive the moment they had a battery inside.

(Hmm don't know when we'll need them, but well, they are small so whatever)

I open my bag and throw the small fans inside. Then take a few steps to my left and stop over what seemed to be solar power banks.

(Wonder if these things still work or not)

I take one out of the box and look at it.

(Uhh, nope, can't tell like this. And I doubt they are normally charged to check on another appliance…)

Nonetheless, I put a couple in my bag and kept looking.

"Found anything?" I hear a voice next to me as I keep looking at all the stuff we can't use without a generator.

"Battery-powered fans and some solar power banks that I have no idea whether they work or not" I respond. Saeko just tilts her head questionably...

"What about charging them, the sun is still out" She asks.

"Yea that could work, but one of us will have to stay by the window" I respond.

"Hmm. Ok, I can go by the windows and hold the power banks out while you check the rest of the aisles" Saeko looks at the windows as she speaks.

"We have been making enough noise till now for any hiding corpses to jump out, still, keep your eyes inside the building" I nod as I turn to her.

"Of course, can I have the power banks?" She asks right after.

"Give me a sec, they're in my bag. If they don't work, there are more over there" I point behind me and to my right as I take off my bag, open it and hand her the power banks.

"Alright...How do I know that they work?" She asks as she takes the palms sized gadgets and starts staring at them.

"They should have an on button somewhere, and a sign of how fully charged they are. I don't see a hud on them so I guess they should have light indicators that they have power." I respond, Saeko nods as she keeps looking at the power banks before lifting her head towards me.

"Ok, I'll head to the next aisle. Hmm before you go, check if you can find a chair or two that can fit in your bag" I throw my bag over my shoulder and turn around, Saeko nods and also turns around..

Now the next aisle had clothes. Summertime clothes, not swimsuits. I only briefly checked that aisle. As well, summer clothes would have even worse protection than our clothes. And both Saya and Saeko don't lack in terms of 'summertime' clothing collection.

(Now that I think of it, I need to get some actual bite resistant, waterproof clothes. As long as they can keep saliva out of wounds, a bite should but be just that, a bite. Painful, but not deadly.

Uhh, where is Amazon when you need it...that place would definitely have bite-resistant stuff. I know Japan has a couple of their warehouses, but hell if they are not lotted. I still have the trenchcoat, but I have not checked how much of a stab resistance it has.)

And so, I went to the last aisle, this one to my surprise, was mostly bathroom stuff. Shampoos, a billion female accessories, toothbrushes and some actual bathroom items, like handheld shower hoses and bathroom towels.

(Hmm, I could use one of these waterproof shower curtains, and the towels, I think I saw some beach towels on the racks by the wall with the stairs, the ones on the other side of the room, but ehh, these are softer. And we do have some towels in the car. Or I think we do, since we left Saya's house.)

With that, I picked a couple of shower curtains that were not see-through, because come on. Have some class, and a couple of towels. And just as I was starting to move forward…

"Hey what is taking you so long? And did you just open a window?" I hear the radio go live.

"We are almost done, and yea we opened a window. we're checking some solar power banks" I respond as I bring the radio close to my face.

"Well hurry up, they have surrounded the car." Saya responds.

"Yea, we will be back soo…" As I speak my eyes stop in front of a couple of toothbrushes...

"Question, you need a toothbrush?" I ask on the radio.

"...What?" I hear Saya ask back.

"Do you have a toothbrush?" I ask again…

"Of course I have a toothbrush you idiot. " Saya groans at me.

"Alright, I'll focus on finishing here then." I respond as I let go of the talk button and shove the radio in my pocket, then grab a bunch of toothbrushes.

(Who knows when we will get another chance, better have some just in case. And toothpaste.

Still, It makes me wonder. Does the whole tooth decay gig work like body smell here, in other words, it doesn't? I mean in the anime I never saw any of them brush their teeth, and sure the bath scene was pure fanservice, but here it means that they, well, took a bath. Yet I never saw them brush a tooth, Nor ever complain about bad breath to each other, and you know, some of them tended to spend a lot of time next to each other's...mouths.

While I 'have' been brushing my teeth whenever I had the chance to do so, it's only because I have been doing it so long that I'm used to it. Yet, I have also noticed that everybody here has perfect teeth, corpses included, because you know, they tend to show them a lot when they try to bite chunks out of you. Huh, between overpowered E.M.P.s, broken shotgun physics, non-existent body smell, the ability to bash skulls in with a plain bat. Guess I can add this in the 'weird stuff list'...Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, literally.

But ehh, old habits die hard, better safe than sorry.)

After also raiding the toothpaste sector of the rack, I close the bag and turn to head towards Saeko. Whom I found leaning on an open windowpane.

"Any luck" I ask as I walk to her.

"I think so" She responds as she backs away from the window and walks up to me.

"This one lights up, the other two do not seem to react" She shows me one of the three power banks in her hand as she speaks.

"Hmm, alright. Let's take a bunch of power banks for us to check in the car. Don't know what we can use them for, as they are normally used for charging cell phones or other very small appliances, but we'll see. There are other things I'd like to check, but we have no time left. So we look for the pump and 'tub', then bail" I respond, Saeko nods at me and turns to walk towards the aisle with the power banks, me following behind her

(I'm not even going to ask her about the toothbrush thing. I had enough 'close ups' with her to know that she either has one, or people here indeed don't need to brush.)

I then take the radio out.

"We'll be going down soon, is the elevator still blocked?" I ask.

"Yes, but I can shoot them. If the gun gets stuck again, I can deal with it." Saya responds.

"Alright, I'll give you the go when it's time." I respond before closing the radio then grab a couple of solar power banks, shoving them in the bag.

"Ok, pump and tub left" I fold my arms as I look further down the aisle.

"...Check for the pump, I will see for the pool, if there isn't anything like that around, I will take one of the 'boaty' floats I saw, they can act as a mini tub" I turn to look at Saeko as I speak, she nods and walks past me.

(Ok let's see…)

I keep browsing the inflatables, until my sight stops to a box that writes 'Small above ground swimming pool'.

(Ohh, lucky break is me)

I take the box and look at it.

(One meter huh? This would do perfectly, not too big, but not knee-deep either and the box is rather small, it can probably fit in the bag)

I keep looking at the image in the front cover, and see that it also had a pump inside.

(Aaand we. Are. Done)

I open the box and take out the folded 'tub' then also take the small pump and shove them both in the bag.

"Saeko, I found both, we're leaving" I speak up as I look at her, she turns to me as she leaves a box back in the rack and nods.

With that, we moved back towards the elevator door. Once there, I pulled out the radio.

"Open fire, we're coming down" Then put the radio back in my pocket, slide through the door gap, and jump. Grabbing the metal wire with both hands before wrapping my legs around it, letting myself 'slide' down.

Once I reached the bottom I moved away and looked through the hole on the elevator.

(No corpses in the elevator itself)

And just then, I heard a gunshot, followed shortly after by more shots, all fired in slow succession.

"Now we wait until Saya gives us the all-clear" I fold my arms as I speak, glancing at Saeko who was next to the metal rope.

"You think she will be able to shoot them all? There were quite a lot of them on the first floor" She asks as she walks up next to me.

"She has a car full of ammo and knows the basics, even if she misses half her shots, that's twenty or so bullets. The Mp5 holds fifteen. Worse case, she gets jam combo-ed and will have to reload the clip or use the handgun. In other words, we'll just have to wait longer up here, also corpses can't get on the Humvee, so the only problem is leaving. And with the humvee's ability to go four-wheel rough terrain mode, it will manage just fine" I respond as I fold my arms.

"I guess you are right." Saeko nods slightly as she glances at the elevator hatch.

And just then, the gunshots stopped.

"Hey, I cleared them all" And the radio comes alive.

"Is it clear down there from what I can see " I hear Saeko speak as she leans next to me, looking towards the hatch.

"Yea, let's go. Next time, I'll try not to take you to a claustrophobic dark vertical hallway for an outing" I nod and jump down, Saeko following behind me.

"Ohh? It's a promise then." Saeko raises an eyebrow before she smiles and leans towards me.

(Me and my big mouth)

"For now, let's get out of here" I ready the Scar-H for good measure, and slide out of the door.

Several corpses were on the floor to our left, the same way we needed to go to reach the Humvee.

"Well Saya, I trust that you shot them all dead, if one bites me. Shoot me in the head!" I shout as I start walking towards the corpses.

"...W..Waht?! S..Stop! Go around them you friggin idiot! HEEY!" And Saya end's up mixing her words as she shouts.

(She just said waht didn't she?)

I chuckle slightly as I take a path where corpse bodies were not blocking the way until I reached the car, then turn around to see Saeko behind me.

With that, I jumped on the hood and back to the hatch, while Saya crawled back inside. After that, I left my bag and went to the driver's seat. As Saeko got in, I looked in the side mirror.

"You weren't kidding, they have indeed swarmed the car." I say as I switched the car to 'R'.

"Told you so" Saya responds as she folds her arms.

"But you know what they say. Stand in front of tanks? The tanks are gonna win." I press on the gas as I grip the steering wheel with one hand.

The car, with a roar, knocks over the corpses that have gathered behind it and climbs over them. Once we were clear of them, I turned the car around and switched to D.

"I wonder what the second floor had" I glance at the supermarket as I press on the gas.

"I don't know. I know what it doesn't have. Windows" Saya responds plainly.

"...Suddenly, I'm glad I didn't check it. In any case, Saya I'ma need directions to the convenience store" I give the supermarket one last glance as I shake my head slightly...

(I also didn't check that sealed of room in the third floor...but whatever)

...And like so, I stepped on the gas, and drove away…

…

..

.

***supermarket's third floor…***

A person was standing behind the blocked off door, peeking through the small opening. Camera in his hand…

"WHY DIDN'T YOU KIIITHH!11!?"


	40. What did you really want?

(I don't when I don't know how. But someday, I will thank Rika for the car)

Having no clocks, I didn't really know how much time had passed since we left the supermarket. What I did know was, that we reached our destination in one piece.

"Home sweet home. If home is a run-down store that is." I shut down the car's engine as it entered the alleyway by the convenience store, the same alleyway we parked it in last time. Even the door we unscrewed and used as a makeshift barricade was still there.

"Well, with the shutter's down, it should be relatively safe" Saya responds as she starts packing her stuff back in her bag. Aka the map and radios.

"At least I can't see any corpses around right now" Saeko adds as she keeps leaning between the two front seats.

"They probably got drawn away by the engine's sound, when we left with the car last time." I answer as I steer the car close towards the store's wall to my right, then turn left, in order to create that 'cone' shape with the opposite wall, so we can use the door to block the opening once again.

"Which means, we'll have them coming back now..." Saya stops fiddling with her bag as she speaks.

"More corpses, less curious survivors" I answer plainly.

"Yea yea, I know." Saya sighs slightly as she hugs her bag and turns to look at me.

"In any case, let's go." I open the door, take my bag and exit the car.

(Hmm, maybe I should have parked with the hood facing the road. Oh well.)

"Saya, remember how we set up the door last time?" I ask as I turn to the pink-haired girl after reaching the metal door that laid on the ground.

"Yea, and seeing how you parked, I take it we'll do the same thing again?" Saya asks as she exits the car and turns to look at said door.

I nod, pick it up, and move to place it between the car and the wall.

Saya first checked to see if the humvee's backside completely blocked the right wall, then walked around the hood and came up to me, on the door's opposite site. Saeko just stared for a couple of seconds before walking up to me as well.

With that, we shoved the store's door between the car and the wall, ending up with the store's door 'jamming' on the driver's door.

"Alright, we're not aiming to stay here for too long, so it should do for now" I say as I back away and nod.

Saeko glances at me before also taking a few steps back, Saya was actually on the other side of the barricade, so she just stared at me.

"Saeko, come on." I motion with my head as I move to climb up the car's trunk...

I actually saw Saya smirking to herself as I and Saeko moved from the trunk to the hood of the car.

(Is she really feeling that triumphant because she didn't have to climb this time around? Heh, cute.)

After grouping back up, we headed to the back alleyway of the store. Towards the back door that led to the small hallway that had the stairs which led to the upper floor to its left.

"Did we leave the door open?" I ask as I stop and raise my arm.

"Can't remember. We left in a rush and I was barely awake" Saya responds as she peeks over my shoulder. Or you know, she tried to, being that I'm a head taller than her.

"Wait here" I move forward and to the left, towards the opposite wall from which the store's door was at.

(If it has people inside...what do I do? Leave? Kick them out? Group up? Each decision sounds worse than the last one, especially if I'll have to trust that a bunch of random hobos won't try anything funny while we're asleep. Saeko and Saya were after all, based on Morita. Among the 'hottest' girls in our school, even by this world's standards, and, I totally agree with him.)

Upon reaching the open door I looked through it, at the hallway and small visible 'front' room that had the cashier counter.

(Looks empty. While people will probably stop at gunpoint, corpses won't. And shooting might not be a very smart idea if we want to stay here for the night. Maybe I should get Saya's gun, though the intimidation factor of the Scar-H is way higher, and corpses won't react as long as I'm not stepping on rubber ducks.)

With that thought, I walked through the back door. After glancing at the stairs, I went to the main room.

(Empty. While there are signs of 'normal' people being here, it could just be from our stay here. We didn't exactly clean up after us…)

I do a quick sweep of the surrounding area and rooms. Them being the storage room on the tinted thick glass wall to my left, the toilets that were next to the storage room, and the manager's office behind the register in the wall to my right, with the missing door…

(Everything's clear, toilets still stink.)

I move away from the main room and head towards the hallway. Once the stairs were to my right I took my flashlight, opened it, and placed it under the gun's handguard.

(Need to find a 'no hands' flashlight, one that can hang from a pocket on the vest for example. Holding the gun like this is just downright retarded.)

I climb up the steps and then turn to the right, towards the dark room that me and the group slept in last time. I then stop by the door and do a quick scan before actually moving in.

(No creepy crawlies here.)

I stop looking through the gun's scope and let out a small sigh.

(Ok, all's clear. I don't see any signs of people 'staying' either. The place was unbarricaded and there aren't any bags or anything that looks like a bed or mattress around.)

With that, I pocket the flashlight and go down the stairs, then exit through the back door and motion at the two waiting girls to come.

"Is it safe?" Saya asks as she silently walks next to me, then glances inside.

"Looked empty from what I saw, keep your eyes open nonetheless" I respond.

"I'll go lock the car and take a bag of food along with the gas stove. If you'll start setting the uhh, tub. Make sure it's elevated from the floor, will make it easier to empty it once we're done" I glance at the girls as I speak.

"You want to siphon it? You know we need a hose for that right? " Saya asks as she folds her arms.

"Found a hose in the storage room, the door in the wall that's made of tinted glass next to the toilets. Along with a mop, a broom, and a bucket. Cleaning supplies if I had to guess.

"Fine, but I'm not touching that hose" Saya responds.

"I'll deal with it. In any case, I'm heading to the car. Any food preferences from the stuff that we have in there?" I ask as I start walking, then stop, turn around and look at the girls again.

"Hmm, I saw a lot of uncooked rice and pasta in the boxes. Everything else was canned so I didn't check it in detail. Looked mostly like meat and fish." Saeko responds as she tilts her head slightly…

"Mostly low acidic items in the cans then. Makes sense, they last longer" Saya adds up.

"I see, neither of you answered my question though" I respond as I fold my arms. Causing both girls to stare at me for a couple of seconds.

"R, right...tuna. I want tuna" Saya responds with a mumble as she glances away.

"If I can be picky, anything with rice" Saeko responds.

(You call that being picky? Jeez Saeko.)

"So tuna with rice, I'll check what we have" I nod and turn around.

(Wonder who'll cook. Saeko definitely can as seen from Rika's house. I can...somewhat. Saya, I have no freaking idea...seeing as she has pink hair, and is princess-like. Maybe she also fails to cook sandwiches, like a certain princess from Terca Lumireis...)

I let out a small chuckle as I kept walking towards the car...

Upon reaching it, I checked that no corpses were on the other side of the barricade before climbing over the Humvee. And after jumping off to the other side, I open the trunk and look inside.

(Hmm, the stove is in the duffle bag with the gas canisters. The food is in the uhh uncolored aka brown crates, water's in the blue ones.)

I glance at the red crates as I open the duffle bag.

(We need a shotgun, all that ammo is useless right now. And speaking of ammo, the first thing we'll probably run out is handgun ammo, aka 10mm, as we have four weapons that use it. Saeko's handgun, my handgun and Saya's Mp5 and handgun. The rifle ammo should be fine as the only weapon that can use it is the Scar-H. Plus, the only weapon that did use that ammo was Kohta's Ar-10, as Rei used the M1-A1 as a glorified stabbing pole.)

After a quick glance behind me I started adding the stuff we needed into my bag, a couple of gas canisters, the gas stove along with some of its utensils, like metal pots and a ladle, two packets of rice and a few water bottles. As for the tuna…

(Hmm, the gas stove is bigger than the bag, about one-third of it is poking out, anyway. canned food…)

I then start looking at the sealed cylindrical cans inside the food-filled crate.

(The girls were not wrong, most of the stuff here seems to be meat and fish. And from what I can see, they're all 'plain flavor'. Wonder if we have...hmm?)

My eyes stop on what seemed to be plastic packages with...powder? I pick one of the orange ones and feel its weight, then read the label.

(Curry? The plastic is pretty thick, it also looks airtight…not really a fan of spicy stuff though.)

I leave the pack back in its place and pick another one. This one green in color.

(Uhh, I'll just take this one and ask Saeko if it sticks with rice and tuna. Oh and I better pick some chopsticks for the two. I'll just use my Swiss-knife as it has a small spoon and fork extension. Think I saw it in an inside pocket in my bag. )

I pocket the materials and close the hood, then lock it and climb back over to the 'safe' side. I then back away a few steps and look over at the barricade...

(I'm starting to see more corpses on the road. But as I said, more corpses means less alive people sticking their noses here...and seeing as it's just me Saeko and Saya now, the last thing I need is a bunch of Shido's knocking on my front door...)

After giving the barricade a quick check I start heading back towards the store's back door.

(I'm not aiming to spend days here, but we should probably reinforce the barricade somehow.)

After going back inside I moved to the main room to see Saya and Saeko on my left, In the corner of the room, stacking up boxes next to each other.

"Hmm, this should suffice" Saeko speaks up.

"We still need to set up the curtains" Saya responds.

"We could move one of the shelves to the right. They have metal bars we could use to tie the curtains on" Saeko answers as she glances to her right, causing Saya to turn her head towards the store's display shelves.

"...The bars will be too low if the pool is placed on the boxes…" Saya mumbles after a few seconds…

"Not really, the only thing visible will be your head" Saeko tilts her head slightly as she turns to her.

"Yea but Nai…"

"You're already calling me a pervert for reasons I can't fathom, I'm not aiming to give you an actual reason to back up your claims here by being one" I butt in as Saya starts speaking again, causing both girls to turn to me. With quite the different expressions…

Saeko looked as casual as ever. Then again, we sort of came to the conclusion that we'll be sleeping in the same bed while we still had the choice of not doing so. Saya was being Saya. She just stared at me with a frown and a slight blush...

And seeing as our genius could not find a comeback, I turned to Saeko.

"I found some tuna and rice, no oil. Also picked some dried herbs. Hope they won't make the tuna come back to life" I take off my bag and leave it on the counter after walking over to it.

"You would have solved the riddle of why the dead are walking if it did though" Saeko responds with a giggle as she walks up to me.

"You want me to cook?" She asks right after.

"My cooking skills are water boiled pasta and sandwich level, I'm not signing up for the job" I respond as I start taking everything out of the bag.

"Alright, I will cook for us then" Saeko nods with a smile.

"There are only two chopstick sets here" Saya, who had crept up behind us, points at the chopsticks as she speaks..

"Yea, I'm better off stabbing people with chopsticks rather than using them to eat" I respond as I start looking inside my bag again, then take a small, thin plastic bag with the Swiss-knife inside and place it next to the chopsticks.

(Huh? Was this always inside a bag or did Saeko put it in there when she checked my bag?)

"Hope you don't mind, but I'm going western barbarian on this" I add up with a chuckle as I turn to the girls.

"I will start cooking after we have taken a bath then" Saeko nods at me.

"Ah! Speaking of bath" Saya turns to me and points her finger to my face, or well, mask.

"We need to set some rules around here" She adds up as she leans towards me and puts her other hand on her hip.

(...I'm not going to like this…)

"Not gonna agree till I hear them" I answer as I tilt my head slightly. Saya narrows her eyes.

"Girls take baths first" She begins, I nod. Saeko nods as well.

"When we're taking a bath, you are not allowed in the room" She continues, I nod again…

"We'll wear different clothes after taking a bath, In order to wash the ones we used outside" She adds up, both me and Saeko nod.

"So you're not allowed to wear your ma…"

"Request denied" I cut Saya off.

"Fine, we vote for it" Saya smirks at me as she narrows her eyes even more.

(Like hell we are, I know Saeko will vote on your side in this matter...)

"Nope" I respond.

"You can't nope this you idiot, it's a group decision." She answers back, then raises her hand with the smirk still on her face.

Then both of us turn to Saeko...She looks at me for a couple of seconds…

"Is it that horrible that we desire to be able to see your actual face?" She asks as she raises her hand.

"W...wha, I'm just saying this because it's just stupid for him to wear it constantly" Saya leans her body back to a normal posture and darts her head to Saeko as her eyes go wide.

"B..but whatever, the reasons don't matter. Two versus one, no mask, period. Take it off" She then darts her head to me as she puts both hands on her hips and leans towards me once again.

(Saya kicked it into overdrive here.)

"...Fine, after I have taken a bath. I need to clean it anyway" I respond with a nonchalant shrug.

"Hum, about time." Saya huffs triumphantly as she folds her arms and straightens her back again, the smirk still on her face.

"Uhh, ok so. Let's set the pool? I'll go get the hose" I respond as I raise both arms slightly above my head and turn to walk away.

"I'll set the pool" Saeko responds.

"I'll deal with the curtains," Saya adds up.

(I'll let them have this, maybe it'll get Saya to ease up on the chundereism. And Saeko...well I guess she asked nicely?)

With that I walk past the little 'stage' the girls set up with the boxes and walk into the storage room.

(Alright so, the hose should be…)

I turned my head to the right, until my sight fell on a bucket at the end of the narrow hallway that thankfully still remained walkable, what with all the storage shelves that had been placed in the already narrow room.

I nod, walk up to the bucket and peek inside, a green garden hose coiled inside it.

(Good I didn't dream of it being here after all)

I pick up the hose and start walking outside as I glance at it.

(It has an attachment that seems to lock on faucets, good thing as nobody would want to stay in that damn toilet.)

I give the hose a tug as I walk outside the room.

(Thought about using it as a rope. But it's made by a rather soft plastic, easy to get cut by sharp objects or rip under pressure.)

"I'm going to open the door to smelly land, you might wanna hold your noses" I say as I lift my head and look towards the boxes, where Saeko and Saya were working on the new 'bathroom', toilet excluded.

"Don't take too long, or I'm going to lock you in there if you start smelling like that" Saya replies as she turns to me with a slight smirk.

"Thanks for letting me know, now I'm definitely breaking down the door if it gets stuck" I reply as I casually walk towards the actual bathroom.

(God even with the toilets working this place manages to smell like a cesspool...not that I know how one smells, but uhh, it's waste and sewage shoved in an open hole, can't be very high is smelling ratings.)

While trying to keep breathing to a minimum, I head to the faucet and turn it on, causing water to start running for a few seconds, before closing it again.

(I wonder how long it'll be until the taps run dry...Having running water now means that not a lot of people are actually using the city's water system. Maybe the survivor camps like the elementary school, the mansion and Saya's apartment used local reserves? If they used taps, then the water should at least have had less pressure power by now. Hmm, whatever the case, it's one more reason why we need to move it. Filtration pump or not, I don't want to risk drinking groundwater. And well, at least I can say that the city's water is not what started the infection, we would be walking corpses by Rika's house otherwise.)

I then take the end of the hose that had an orange attachment that opened like a funnel in the end and lock it on the faucet before exiting the bathroom.

"The hose is set, water is still running, better not overuse it though. We don't know when it'll run out now that the city's infrastructure is as dead as its residents" I glance towards the toilet door as I speak.

"Yea, we won't fill it completely" Saya responds.

"Actually, maybe we can just take a shower instead of filling it" Saeko stops setting the pool and turns to Saya.

"Can't we at least relax while taking a bath? We have been up all day…" Saya whines in a low tone.

"Also, no hot water" I respond after Saya...and both girls turn to stare at me.

"What? Water heating needs electricity. Maybe solar ones 'would' work, if you replace all the burnt wires and electronics..." I add up.

"...Ahh...crap. I, totally forgot about that..." Saya lowers her head, her mouth left slightly open and a sad frown on her face.

(You don't have to look 'that' dejected, you're making me feel bad for mentioning it now.)

"Well if you fill the pool, you can boil water in the stove and add it in. Cold and boiling will balance out to a medium temperature, and as it's relatively hot, the room temperature is also relatively h..."

"We're filling it up. I'm not taking a cold shower." Saya cuts me off as she folds her arms with a pout.

"Well do as you wish, I'll go set the beds" I respond as I walk past them.

"Huh? Can't we just place the sleeping bags before we go to sleep?" Saya asks as she turns to me with a raised eyebrow.

(Riiight, chundere here still don't know about the 'double bed'...oh boy)

"I...we got some inflatables back at the store, we can use them as mattresses" I respond as I turn around.

"Oh, I see. Yea, that does sound better than a plain sleeping bag…" Saya nods slightly as she lowers her head and folds her arms, seemingly in thought.

"B, But don't get any funny ideas! L..like sticking the beds next to each other…" Saya's voice, while it started relatively loud, kept decreasing in volume as she spoke, to the point that it ended with a whisper. The fact that she turned her head away, also didn't help.

"Yea...of course…" I responded with a deadpan voice, then turned to Saeko, who was touching her lips with her knuckles, a smile visible on her face as she looked at me. I think she was trying to hold herself back from giggling? I mean, good luck 'not' sticking the beds together when two of them are fused.

"Well, tell me if you need anything." I turn around and start walking.

"By the time you're done we might be taking a bath, the pool is nearly set up. So don't come down until we're done…" Saya turns to me, narrows her eyes as she puts her arms on her hips and leans her upper body towards me.

"Alright, you have clothes to change into?" I ask.

"Yea, I picked some from the car" Saya responds. I then turned to Saeko, and saw her nod at me.

"Well, I'll try not to come down for no reason.." And with a slight shrug, I start walking towards the hallway.

"Does wanting to take a stroll count as a reason?" I 'ask' as I turn around, only for Saya to puff her cheeks and narrow her eyes even more at me...

(Momentary deafness, activate.)

I turn around, and head towards the hallway. After I went up the stairs and reached the second floor, I took out the flashlight and looked around.

"Any wendigos around now?" I ask.

"Nope, just a fuming Saya downstairs." I add with a chuckle as I take off my bag, open it and take the pump out.

(Right, forgot to take the extra sleeping bags, the ones we'll use for the ground and as covers.)

I leave my stuff and head back downstairs, then go outside and straight to the humvee. Once there, I unlock it and take a couple of sleeping bags, as the group had left them behind before going over the bridge. Then, back to the second floor. After that, I set the two inflatables and lock the pump into the double one.

(Alright, time to get to work.)

What transpired, was the most boring moments of several days combined…

-Sometime later-

By the time I was done, I was pretty sure the girls were taking a bath downstairs. So I decided to wait upstairs…

(Wish I had a PSP or DS right now. Or my pc...)

I groaned lightly as I bumped the back of my head against the wall I was leaning on.

I had also taken off my equipment. Leg guards, arm guards, gloves, vest, guns, αnd was sitting with my back against the wall.

(What's taking them so long…)

I let out a sigh and closed my eyes…

(Then again, Saya was not wrong, we have been moving all day, so I won't be surprised if they decide to 'chill' in there. Even if Saya was supposed to be reluctant about sharing a bathroom in the anime...though that 'could' be because of Rei and her uhh, breast checking methods.)

I shake my head and get up, then head to the door.

(With how dark this room is, I'll end up falling asleep.)

I exit and stop by the stairs…

(...Better I wait here, if they are still taking a bath, Saya will chew me out if she sees me downstairs.)

With that, I sat on the steps…

(So, now what? After this we head to the Mansion? From the little that I saw, it was past the mall we stayed at...Hmm, guess once we calm down we can sit around the map and make our next step…)

As I was thinking, I saw Saya walking past the small visible part of the hallway, heading towards the exit.

Her hair was down and was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, along with her school's green short skirt, plus actual sports shoes, I think the same ones she wore after Rika's house.

"Need something from outside?" I ask before she can exit, she turns her head to me.

"Somebody forgot to bring plates" She says as she folds her arms under her chest.

"Right, I think I saw some bento boxes in the car, inside the food crate, I'll go get 'em as I'm the one that forgot' em." I respond as I get up.

"Fine, I'll go outside for my hair to dry either way, then probably lie down for a bit..." Saya responds.

"Are you alright?" I ask as I walk up to her, She tilts her head questionably.

"Uhh, yea. I'm just tired, because of somebody, I ended up jumping into a river and then I had to walk all day" She answers with a smirk as she leans slightly towards me with her arms still folded.

"Wonder who's that idiot" I respond with a chuckle as I start heading towards the exit…

"I'll give you a hint, he always wears a stupid mask" She huffs as she starts walking behind me.

After going outside, Saya followed me all the way to the car in silence.

"I'm surprised you really didn't come down again after going up there…" Saya speaks up while waiting outside of the car. As I gathered our 'plates'.

"You're already treating me like crap most of the time Saya, I don't need it getting worse" I respond as I place the bento boxes next to me and close the crate.

"No I'm...it's, it's because you. It's your fault…" Saya starts stumbling her words as she glances around.

"Maybe it is, I ain't a knight in shining armor after all. Black tends to not shine a lot" I answer as I exit the car, close the door and lock it.

"By the way, here" I dig in my pocket and take out the hand creams I took from the supermarket.

"...Huh?" Saya just tilts her head as she keeps looking at the colorful plastic packages in my hand with a questioning expression…

"Wait, these are." As if the gears in her memory started to spin she lifted her head to me, her face even more weirded out.

"I promised I'd get you some in the police station" I respond as I extend my arm.

"I…" She stops in the middle of her sentence as she takes the items, and stays quiet.

"In any case, I'll hand these over, don't stay out too long, you might catch a cold" I put my hand on her head and ruffle her hair.

(Huh, that's weird, her hair felt a little 'too' wet.)

I walk a couple of steps and then turn round, Saya still rooted on the spot.

"Hey Saya." I call out to her, she jerks her shoulders and turns around, still looking at the ground.

"It might be better if you stay in the back alleyway, you don't know who might see you" I point with my head to the left as I speak. Saya, after a few seconds, nods and starts walking, her head still lowered...

(...She just turned really meek. Was this such an important thing?...I mean sure, I remembered a promise I made to her, but still.)

We then headed back to the back door in silence.

"Ahh, Naier…" Just as I was about to enter the door Saya spoke up, causing me to turn to her.

"..Ahh. N, nothing. Just, thanks" She stumbles on her words once more before bowing slightly.

"You are welcome" I respond as I turn around.

"A..also!" She spoke up again...

(...What's gotten into her.)

Turning around I find her with a flushed face.

"...N..nothing…" She answers as she keeps looking at the ground…

(You get points for trying.)

"Alright, if you need me, you know where to find me." I respond and turn around again.

With that. I walked back to the store, and on to the main room. Saeko was by the counter, looking over the now open stove with a ladle in her hand, more importantly though…

(And now I know why Saya turned weird right before the entrance…)

"You...didn't find clothes again?..." I 'ask'. Saeko, hearing my voice, turns to me.

She had her hair up in a ponytail and was wearing...uhh. A buttoned shirt that was left unbuttoned on the chest area, and that's all. I mean, that's all I could see, as it ended a little under her hips, so I could not actually see her underwear, in difference with every other outfit she wore so far…

"My body is still wet, I didn't want to get clothes we could use drenched, also, be careful not to slip on the water that's on the floor" She responds casually…

(Wet my a...wait. They did take towels right?)

I turn my head to the 'bathtub'. No towels there.

"Where are the towels?" I ask.

"We had towels?" She asks back.

(Didn't you look in the back of the car some time ago?!)

"In the back of the car, I picked some from the store too…" I respond as I turn to her.

"Ohh. I didn't see them" She answers casually with a slight shrug…

(...Didn't see them, my ass.)

"Ooook, uhhh. Brought these" I leave the bentos next to her on the counter.

"Thank you" She nods with a smile as she glances at the bentos I just placed on the counter.

And a couple of seconds later...

"...You know the only reason I'm fine with dressing like this, is because you are the only man that can see me." She keeps looking at the rice inside the metal pot as she speaks .

(Holy crap, she just switched to aggressive.)

"Didn't you stroll around with an apron?..." I ask.

"And a jacket that you gave me." She answers with a slight smile as she tilts her head and leaves the ladle in the boiling pot.

(Right)

"And, I really didn't have a choice back then, nothing fitted me." She stops speaking for a second and turns to look at me.

"So please, don't think of me as a harlot because of it. Ever since the pharmacy, your eye's are the only ones that I want on me." She takes a step towards me and places her hand on my chest then lowers her head again...

"And I'm willing to prove it to you. To give you everything I am, the moment you ask it of me." She lifts her face and locks her eyes on me, her mouth slightly open as her cheeks start to take a shade of red…

"Your heartbeat is rising…" she pushes her hand lightly against my chest as she keeps staring at me. I leaned towards her until my mask almost touched her nose…

"And your rice is burning" I lift my finger and point at the boiling pot.

"Ah!" Her eyes go wide as she instantly turns around and starts focusing on the jealous pot.

"Ohh, it's still ok. We really can't waste food now…" She lets out a small sigh as she closes her eyes, then opens them and keeps them in the pot, though the blush was still on her face.

(A little more and I seriously might have pushed her down, and honestly I don't think she would have even resisted...heartbeat rising my ass, she was actively seducing me...)

"I'm going to take that bath now" I respond as I turn around.

"Umm, you know I can't leave this room, the stove is here." She glances at me before looking back at the food.

"Once rice boils you can lower the temperature and leave it, no?" I tilt my head slightly as I turn to her.

"I thought your cooking ability was sandwiches" Saeko giggles slightly as she keeps looking at the pot.

"And pasta, this counts as pasta-like knowledge. To answer your question though…" I stop in the middle of my sentence and tap on my mask. Causing Saeko to turn and stare at me…

"Ehh I don't care, do as you wish" I respond as I raise my hands slightly.

"Naier. Are you teasing me?" She asks as she raises an eyebrow and tilts her head, a small smirk appearing on her face.

"Me? What would ever make you think of such a thing." I respond with a casual shrug as I turn around.

"Hmm, very well. I will do 'as I wish'" She replies. I turn to glance at her, only to see her still smirking at me…

"Try not to make Saya scream her lungs out…" I scratch the corner of my mask before turning around again…

(Well, that escalated quickly .)

With that over, for now at least. I headed back into the second floor to get a change of clothes out of my bag, only to remember that Saeko had taken them out, so instead. It was back to the car for me...

After getting some clothes...and some towels, I headed back to the store. Giving one towel to Saya in the process, who was still sitting outside. And one to Saeko, who was still staring over the pot, that was now lid closed, and burning over a low flame. After she untied her hair and covered them with the towel, I headed to take a bath…

(I don't feel dirty at all. And I am supposed to be 'careful' on that type of stuff. But not taking one after the other two did is just, yea...no.)

By the time I was in the pool, Saeko was still over the pot…

(She ain't gonna move huh? O well...)

With that, time passed in silence. Until...

"And Naier, remember. No mask after the bath" Saeko speaks up from the other side of the curtain.

"Yea, no mask, Balaclava only, read you loud and clear" I respond with a chuckle as I glance at my mask that was on one of the rack's shelves…and after a few minutes of silence...

"...Why do you like covering your face so much?" She asks.

"Why do you like beating the shit out of people?" I ask back.

"...So you mean to tell me that if I wore a mask. It would excite you?" She asked once again.

(Right, forgot she actually gets uhh, wet, from killing stuff…)

"Uhh, no. I didn't mean it like that. Some people like guns, others like cars, I like helmets and masks." I respond.

"I see…" She then stays quiet...for about ten seconds…

"If the world somehow returns to normal. What are you going to do?" She shoots another question.

(Damn she's on a roll.)

"I got, no freaking idea" I answered.

"Do you want to return to your country?" She asks again.

"No" I answered flatly.

"Hmm, how come? You didn't like it there?" And yet another question.

(Yea, let's ignore the fact that leaving here means leaving both you and Saya behind, and that I have no memories of my own concerning 'my' country.)

"I was never one to get attached to a place, used to move a lot" I responded.

"So you would not care if you left Japan either?" Her voice sounded a bit different this time. A bit, forced.

"Ha, you think you're getting rid of me that easy? I'll probably stuff you in my bag if I'll end up leaving. Wonder if they allow Saekos on a plane." I respond with a small chuckle.

"You know you don't have to stuff me anywhere, I would come with you willingly, if you'd have me." She replies with a giggle.

"I'll keep that in mind" I answer as I stretch.

(Ok that should be nuff swimming.)

I get off the pool, dry myself and change to a new set of, same black clothes.

(...These are the new clothes right? Uhh, yea, the unfolded ones are the ones I wore.)

"Wonder if we can use the water in the pool to wash the clothes too, it doesn't look dirty. Is it ok to mix body shampoo with clothing shampoo?" I ask as I look at the foamy water in the pool.

"Hmm, I never used body shampoo to clean clothes in my house. It probably lacks the stain removal abilities of the clothing one, otherwise, I suppose I don't see a problem with it. As we are not using a washing machine which would probably be incompatible with body shampoo" Saeko replies.

"You are done?" She asks right after.

"Yea" I answered back.

"Could I ask you to come here for a minute then?" She asks back.

Without answering I exit the 'bathroom' and head to Saeko.

"What's up?" I ask as I stop next to her. She just turns to stare at me…

"Uhh…" And she keeps staring…

"Sorry, I just wanted to look at your face. It's a rare sight to see the Ninja penguin without his mask" She finally speaks up as she tilts her head with a warm smile.

"...I'm starting to think you were the one who started this whole penguin thing" I reply as I fold my arms. Saeko shakes her head.

"Shizuka, not me" She answers.

(Figures. She could be lying though, Shizuka is too easy of a target...)

After a short silence, with Saeko having her eyes locked to my face...

"Well, I'll start by washing my clothes, until the food is ready" I glance around before turning towards the pool behind me.

"It's ok, I can wash them together with mine." Saeko replies.

"Uhh, I'm still taking care of my mask myself, not because I think you might try to hide it or something, honest" I glance back at her and lift both arms to my head.

"Saw right through my plan, shoot" She replies in a playful manner as she tilts her head and presses her finger on the corner of her lips.

With that, I move back to the pool and take my mask, which I left on the display rack.

(The mask itself should be easy to clean, the balaclava, guess we'll see. Maybe I should start wearing the hood, as it will stop blood from sticking on the balaclava. Also cool and tryhard factor plus ten.)

"Do we even have clothing detergent?" I ask as I dip the mask in the pool.

"Hmm, good question, I don't think I saw any in the car" Saeko replies.

"Oh well, guess we stick with shampoo" I shrug slightly and continue.

Saeko did not speak afterward. Yet, there was something else on my mind now.

(Still, is Saeko really that dependent on me? Or she's trying to lead me on? Even with Takashi she was not 'that' assertive. And it's obvious in the anime that she's in love with him to the point of 'giving him everything she is'.)

I stop scrubbing the mask and lift it to head height...

(Uhh, must you always think like everybody is out to get you? Maybe Saeko does like you to the point of being even more assertive than she was with Takashi...)

I shake my head and take the mask and balaclava, then start heading towards the exit. Once out, I turn to my left to see Saya with her back to me.

"Hey, you know where I can hang clothes to dry?" I ask as I walk up to her.

"Huh, you can leave them on the c…" She turns around as she speaks, only to stop in the middle of her sentence after turning to face me, her eyes frozen wide open and her mouth slightly ajar.

"Hello?" I tilt my head slightly as I keep looking at her.

"C...car" Saya squeaks, before quickly putting her hand over her mouth, slightly lowering her blushing face.

"M, my hair dried, I'm going inside" She then zoomed past me before I could even reply.

(...Is my face that amazing to look at? I always thought I was average to meh looking…)

I then look at my mask.

(Weird, oh well.)

After reaching the car, I leave the mask on the front bumper and hang the balaclava on the car's antenna, then turn to look at the sky.

(It's getting dark. Hmm, I also still have to ask Saya what she did with our night shifts.)

With that, I went back to the store. To find both Saya and Saeko by the counter.

Hearing me enter the room, Saeko turns to me.

"Food is ready" She says with a smile.

"Don't remember the last time I had cooked food" I respond as I walk up to them.

"Yea, feels like the first day of the outbreak was months ago..." Saya keeps looking into the metal pot as she speaks.

(I meant before the outbreak as well, as I was all buns and fast food long before day Z. Don't need to tell them that though, for one Saya will definitely use it as an excuse to poke her finger to my face.)

"It will be a bit hot, but the tuna I mixed with the herbs will help cool it down faster" Saeko starts placing rice in the bentos as she speaks.

"Actually, what herbs did I bring?" I ask as I turn to look at the bowl that had the tuna in.

"Hmm? Dill. You picked it randomly?" Saeko asks as she turns to look at me.

"What. naawww, of course I didn't pick it randomly…" I respond as I glance around, Saeko lifting an eyebrow to my obvious lie.

"Is Dill good with tuna?" I ask after a few seconds of silence. Saeko lowers her head and closes her eyes as she starts giggling..

"Yes, Dill is usually good with any seafood." She answers as she opens her eyes and turns to look at me again.

"I would seriously kick you if you had managed to ruin good food" Saya folds her arms and keeps looking at the rice as she speaks.

(Say it to ma face. Or you're still blushing?)

After Saya's remark, we stayed quiet while Saeko prepared the three bentos, aka, plates.

"Aright, food is ready" Saeko, upon speaking, lets go of the kitchen utensils and leans back, then turns to me.

"Where are we going to eat?" She asks.

"Anywhere we want, personally, I'm eating here" I respond as I sit on the counter, turning around in the process, then tap it with both hands.

Saeko nods and takes a bento on each hand, then walks up to me, hands me one, and sits next to me. Then scoots even closer, to the point that her leg was touching mine. Actually screw that, she was literally leaning on me…

And uhh, guess who was looking like an extra grumpy cat now. Saya, with the towel still around her shoulders, got her bento. Then sat on the counter, albeit a little further from me and Saeko…

"I could not find any flavored tuna, hope you don't mind it plain" I take my swiss knife and open the 'fork'.

Just as I was about to dig the fork into the rice I realized something.

(Wait, I have two Japanese people with me, got to 'Thank for the food' first. Nearly started out of habit, as I never did that when I was by myself, though now I really got to 'thank' for the food, Saeko made it after all.)

I close the fork and leave it next to me.

"Thanks for the food" As I start speaking, Saeko and Saya speak up with me in unison.

"Actually, where did you two put your equipment?" I ask as we start eating.

"Behind you" Saya answers flatly as she points her chopsticks behind her without lifting her head.

"Humm, Naier, can I ask for a favor ?" Saeko, who was still leaning on me, turned her head to me. I glance at her, nod…

She then brings her chopsticks, which had a bite-sized chunk of her food, close to my face...and stops...

(You gotta be pulling my leg)

I glance at the chopsticks, then at the smiling Saeko. Then back at the sticks, and back at Saeko...

"I always wondered how it feels to do this, hope I'm not making you feel uncomfortable" Saeko, seeing my dead response speaks up.

(Ohh yeah, we cool, just that I feel an epic glare on my back right now.)

"I guess, I'll admit I'm not a big fan of mussy stuff like that" I respond and open my mouth slightly.

Saeko did not miss her chance and placed the chopsticks in my mouth with a slight giggle.

"Hum, for not being a fan, you sure caved in fast. Even if she did it wrong…" I hear a whining voice behind me seconds later.

"Ohh, you know of a correct method?" Saeko glances past me and she raises an eyebrow, a slight smirk on her face.

"Why, is there a reason I should not?" I hear the same whining voice behind me respond, in a slightly higher tone this time.

(In other words. She practiced this even while Takashi was giving her absolutely no attention?...That's, actually kind of sad…)

"Hum, fine, if you don't believe me I'll show you." I hear Saya respond as she slides off the counter and comes to sit next to me, opposite of Saeko.

(...Ok, acknowledge this for a moment, I have both Saya and Saeko next to me, hand-feeding me? The actual fark is happening here.)

"Hey idiot, open your mouth. I, I can't show her how to do it if you're being an idiot" Saya starts speaking with a serious face, I need not mention that her face was also beet red do I ?...

Not wanting to anger the already ticking time bomb next to me I open my mouth. And Saya moves her hand towards my mouth. Correction, her slightly shaking hand to my mouth.

(...Her hand is seriously shaking right now?)

Also another thing I noticed. Her lips curved up to a smile, even if it was momentarily, before quickly turning back into 'grumpy cat' mode.

"Hmm, so like that?" I barely managed to swallow as Saeko brought her chopsticks to my face…

(Ok, I have a bad feeling about this.)

I open my mouth nonetheless…

"No, you're doing wrong, it's like this" Saya responds as she brings her own chopsticks to my face again…only for…

"I see, then it's like this?" Saeko to continue the combo…

This...went on for some time...

To the point that I was actually full.

(They will seriously choke me here)

I leave the swiss knife/fork on the bento, and creep my hands behind Saeko's and Saya's neck, then grab them both at the same time.

Saya lets out a yelp and closes her eyes for a few seconds, Saeko jerks her shoulders slightly and opens her mouth a bit, but otherwise leaves her eyes locked on me.

"First, You will choke me like this, second, if you keep stuffing my face with your food, you'll empty your bentos without actually eating anything, third…" I let go of both of them, take my fork and dig into my bento, then split my food into two portions.

"This is yours" I point the right portion to Saya.

"This is yours" I point the left portion to Saeko.

"Ok?" I ask. Both girls nod after a few seconds, with a rather dumbfounded expression.

"I apologize, I got a bit carried away" Saeko, with a smile still plastered on her face, nods slightly and brings her chopsticks over my bento.

"I was just showing her..." Saya follows up after Saeko, though her face had a blushing pout instead.

(Sure you were Miss 'I'll show you how it's done'. )

I decided to not say that out loud though, our blushing chundere seemed flustered enough as it is.

The rest of our dinner went on without any 'surprises'. And by the time we were done, the place had also visibly gotten darker.

"Ok, I'll deal with the plates, as we have to wash them in the bathroom." I speak up as I get off the counter.

"I'll deal with the clothes then" Saeko nods at me as she also gets off the table, she had also taken the towel off her hair some time ago.

"I will..." Saya puts her hand over her mouth and stretches with a yawn in the middle of her sentence.

"Sorry…" She adds right after as she lifts her glasses and rubs her eyes with both hands.

"You can go upstairs to sleep if you want, or help Saeko. Washing clothes will take longer than washing bentos and pots obviously" I turn to look at Saya as I speak.

"I'll help Saeko…" She responds as she also gets off the counter with a rather sleepy expression.

With that, I moved to the gas chamber…

(God I need an actual gas mask for this place.)

After getting all the cutlery there, I start scrubbing the bentos with a sponge I found on the store's shelves…

(At least the girls didn't oppose me when I said that I'll leave the door open. Still, this place had sponges and dishwashing soap, but no clothing detergent...)

-Several nose agonizing minutes later-

(Ok, done, I'm outa here, before I pass out.)

I walk out of the bathroom with the bentos, the cooking utensils and pots inside them.

"I'm done" I speak up as I get near the girls.

"We need some more time" Saeko responds. Saya just kept her head down, not speaking, much less reacting.

"Uhh, Saya you ok?" I ask as I lean towards her.

"A...I'm fine.." She responds with her head still lowered…

(...'something' definitely happened.)

Just as I was about to turn my head to Saeko.

"She just got a bit, too focused washing your…"

"S...shut up!" Saya darts her head to Saeko as she cuts her off, her face taking all new levels or red.

(Right...I did leave my old clothes here…)

Saya glances at me a couple of times before darting her head back down to the pool…

"We can't leave unwashed clothes" She mumbles in a low tone.

"I see, thanks Saya. I'm going to let these dry outside" I respond as I walk past them.

"Since you had more to do than me, once you're done I will deal with emptying the pool outside" I add up as I stop for a second and turn around, Saeko looks at me and nods, Saya didn't react.

(And she has yet to see the beds too huh?...)

With that thought, I headed to the car and left everything on it, then went back to the girls, where I waited for them to finish with the clothes while I was waiting on the counter, as they didn't let me join in.

And several minutes later…

"Hmm, emptying the pool will take some time, we should start emptying it before you two are finished" I hop off the counter as I speak and walk up to them. Then, I took the hose and went to the smelly bathroom, hopefully for what would be the last time for today.

(Ok, I should fill both sides with water and then leave one side in the pool, the other on the ground outside, the elevated position of the pool will siphon the water out.)

With that, I take the orange attachment out, open the faucet and fill the hose with water until it's 'full'. Blocking both hose exits with my thumbs I head back to the pool, leave one side there and with the other side in my hand, I head outside and leave the hose to the ground. Water instantly pouring out...

Several seconds later, water was still coming out, meaning that all I had to do now is wait. I lean my back against the wall and take a deep breath.

(Now we wait…)

I looked up in the sky that was quickly losing its orange coloring. Then looked back down, at the two sides that the alleyway ended.

(The side that does not have the car was already barricaded, and that flimsy ass barricade we have by the car should hold any corpses that manage to wander there, we'll also close the back door, as it opens towards the outside, corpses will need to break it down, if they manage to get this far...

To be honest though, the idea of seeing corpses popping from the corners right now is freaking me out a bit. Is it because I feel more vulnerable now that I accepted that I am in a 'safe' spot? Sure I'm not wearing my gear and don't have my gun, but I didn't have these in the school either. I guess, the idea of no 'safe place' really existing is what's actually freaking me out...

Or that Saeko and Saya are totally defenseless right now. Both of them left their gear behind the counter after taking a bath…)

I must have lost track of time, as thankfully nothing happened while I was waiting, until Saeko and Saya walked outside with the clothes on their hands.

"The pool is almost empty, we will go hang these, by the time we're done the pool should be empty" Saeko speaks up as she glances behind her. Then turns to head towards the car with Saya.

(Ok, let's get this over with.)

I nod, push myself off the wall and head back to the pool to find it almost empty.

(Hmm, might as well brush my teeth while I'm waiting.)

I back away from the pool and head to my bag that I left upstairs, then take three toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste before heading back down. After sitting on the counter I open one of the sealed brushes, put some toothpaste and start brushing while mindlessly staring at the pool. Until I heard footsteps to my left.

"Ughh, right. I almost forgot I got to brush my teeth" I hear Saya groan with a sleepy face. She drags her feet over to her bag behind the counter and takes her toothbrush.

"Can I have toothpaste?" She asks as she extends her hand to me, moving to the front of the counter in the process..

"Uhh, where did you get water?" She asks again as I give it to her, I respond by shaking my head.

"Ahh, I don't have my bag with me, it's in the car" I hear Saeko speak up right after. I turn to her and extend one of the sealed toothbrushes.

"Oh, thank you" She smiles at me and takes it, then takes the toothpaste from Saya, who looked like about to fall asleep with the brush in her mouth…

Saeko sat on the counter right after, again, excessively close to me. She then pleased her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes as she continued the monotonous task…

Saya, who decided not to sit on the counter, was casually looking around. Until her sight landed on me and Saeko. Probably due to her being sleepy, she didn't really react and turned to look away. Only to dart her head back to me as her sleepy eyes snapped open and her face took one glorious frown.

(Well, I'm actually done. So as much as I like this, Saya seems about ready to blow now that she can't tell me what a pervert I am.)

I tap lightly on Saeko's shoulder, who shakes her head slightly before opening her eyes, she then looks around before closing them again, sitting back to a normal posture in the process. I then hop off the counter and head to the pool before spitting whatever was in my mouth.

(Some doctors say it's better not to rinse after brushing, guess we'll find out now. In a world that brushing may actually have no point because nobody can get bad teeth.)

I chuckle slightly and turn around.

"I'll go close the door and head up" I point to my right as I start walking. Both girls reply with a silent nod.

So, after closing the door, I headed to the second floor, and looked at the beds…

(Think Saya is sleepy enough to not freak out?...)

I walk up to Saya's bed and push it a bit closer to the double bed with my foot.

(Nahh, will definitely freak out.)

I then head back to my bag, take my equipment and leave 'em over the 'head' of the double bed. Then kneel down and take the handgun out of the holster, check the safety and leave it next to everything else, along with the Scar-H. After that, I take off my shoes and walk up on the bed before lying down, using an extra sleeping bag as a pillow while passing my right arm under my head.

A couple of seconds later, I hear footsteps to my left.

"Uhh, finally, we get to sleep on something that isn't a cold hard floor. Still, won't these cause a lot of no..." I hear Saya stop in the middle of her sentence…

"Uhh, there are only two beds here…" She adds up in a low tone as she walks into the room. And after getting to the 'leg' section of the double bed and looking at both beds, she puts two and two together, or well, two and one.

"T...that's a d...dobule bed..." Saya's voice kept losing strength as she kept staring at the bed with wide eyes.

"H..hey pervert! W...what exactly you are trying to do?!" She then turns her sight to me as she raises her voice.

"He is not trying to do anything, I ask for this" Saeko walks up to the bed, then sits on the corner.

"W..whaa..." Saya then turned to Saeko, her voice started to lose power again, to the point that I could not really hear it.

"Seeing as you either keep calling me an idiot or pervert. I figured you would try to either eat my liver, or force me to sleep in the pool if I got a bed for three people, so I got one different for you" I point at the ceiling, then at the single bed that was a little further off to my right.

"Huh? N, No I...I…" Saya just kept glancing between 'her' bed and the double bed.

"Umm, Naier, you will sleep with your clothes?" Saeko, who I had the feeling was enjoying this, asks right after as she keeps leaning on her hand.

"Last thing I need is running around half-naked in case of an emergency. And that's what will happen if we wake up in the middle of an emergency" I reply as I turn to Saeko.

"I see, I guess that does make sense" She replies as she closes her eyes and stretches.

"S..so, you two will. Sleep...together?" Saya asks, still standing in the same place like a scarecrow…

(It actually does sound unreal now that she mentions it.)

"Yes" Saeko answers flatly as she lies down next to me, then hugs my arm and nuzzles her head right next to my neck, before tightening her hug on my arm and placing her leg on me. Then, with a long sigh, she stops moving…

Saya didn't move, she just stared at the bed…

(She's going to start kicking me now or something?...)

"B...but I...I.." Saya's own voice got cut by a short hiccup. Looking at her, I see that she keeps rubbing right under her eyes…

(Wait, she's crying? Uhh, What the fuck am I fucking asking? She jumped into the fucking river with me, and her being her, she obviously would not say why she 'really' did it…")

"Saya, I'm trying to do what both of you ask of me. I already told you that I'm happy that you decided to come with me, so let me just ask you something…" I raise myself slightly until I can lean on my elbow and stop talking, until Saya looks at me.

"Are you 'really' asking what you want from me?" I 'ask' as I keep looking at her. She did not reply, she just slowly folded her arms under her chest and looked away.

After a few seconds I look back up the ceiling.

(Ok, what I'm doing here is as wrong as it gets if looking at it from their side, might as well use everything I have.)

"Did you ever tell Takashi that you liked him?" I ask as I keep looking at the ceiling.

"Huh...wh..wha..."

"Would things have been different between him and you had you told him so, instead of acting like you are constantly annoyed with him?" I cut her off.

"What makes you think I liked him..." I hear Saya ask.

"You were pretty bad at hiding your displeasure when he went after Rei on the bus, or honestly anything that had him doing things for Rei" I answered.

"T, that's because she dumped him before the outbreak for his best friend! She didn't deserve him back..." Saya answers back, her voice starting off strong, but ending with a whisper.

"Probably, but she decided to act on what she really wanted. Did you?" I ask back. And got no response…and after a few seconds.

"No matter what happens with Saya, I'll still want you with me. That's what I told Saeko. The opposite, also counts for you Saya. Immoral, bad, or stupid as it is, it's the choice 'I' wanted to make. The rest of that choice, is yours" I add up as I close my eyes and lie back down.

Saeko didn't react to all of this, I don't know if she decided to not intervene, or if she honestly fell asleep this fast…

(Even if she decides to keep her distance from me. I hope this whole chat right now helps her on making better decisions later on in 'this' type of thing. I mean I was not lying about her and Takashi, if she was not such a stick in the mud with him and actually showed him some affection, she could have won him over, or have a way higher chance of doing so at least…)

And then, I heard Saya move, only to abruptly stop a second later. Then start again, then once again stop…

(Huh? What is she...)

I didn't even manage to finish that thought, and I felt the bed move while at the same time, something 'crashed' on the right side of my chest.

Opening my eyes, I saw the top part of a pink-haired head at the point of impact…

"You're horrible…" The pink-haired head whines in a low tone.

"I know" I respond as I bring my hand on it and ruffle its hair.

"Uhh, speaking of horrible, who's on the first night shift" I ask.

"You…" Saya responds without moving her head.

"Ok, the second?" I ask again.

"You…" She answers, this time in a lower tone...

"...The third…" I ask one final time…

"...You..." Saya replies in an even lower tone.

(Figures…)

"Well, guess I better get to work then." I respond as I try to get up, only for Saya to cling on to me with a short whine.

(Ohh this is going to be a loong night…)


	41. A path to choose

"Plug the hole dammit!" The man mounted on the raptor shouts. Clad from head to toe in high tech armor.

"I'm trying! Frigging plesiosaur keeps clipping me back!'' I shouted back as I kept trying to reach the cracked window. While the head of a plesiosaur, that had clipped through the metal wall next to it, kept pushing me back every time I got near the window.

"I swear, if we lose this base because of the plesi, I'm fucking feeding it to a level two troodon! And then I'm shotgun-blasting that troodon in the face!" The man shouts once again.

"Don't you fucking dare use the shotgun! Or I'm selling your spleen for the metal ingots!" I shout back as I keep running towards the window. The level of the water was well over my waist by now...

"Dude! We have tek gear and an underwater base! Why do you care about metal ingots so much!?" The guy shouts.

"I don't care! You will NOT waste metal! And that's finaaaagrrllll..." Before I could finish, my head was underwater. I reflexively closed my eyes as I got violently pushed away…

By the next time I opened my eyes. All I could see, was a deep dark blue. And as I kept looking around, I saw them. Giant tentacles, a lot of them. Creeping out from the darkness to my left.

"Fuuuuuggrll! Sqiiiiiiiiiddrll!" I quickly start swimming to my right as I scream in panic, trying to get away from the slithering tentacles that were closing in.

Yet, in the flash of a moment, they were in front of me, warping around me and forcefully pulling me back. Then, they turned me around, bringing me face to face with a giant squid…

(Welp I'm ded, at least I don't have any ascendant gear on me)

And as the squid drew me closer to itself it...giggled in a female voice?

(...Wait wut?)

Before I could even analyze what I just heard, the squid was grinding me against its mantle. It's giant eye squinted in a happy expression as it occasionally gave off a rather soft, feminine growl…

(Ok, this is weird, in so many ways. I never had a problem with 'monster girls'. But this is fuking absurd)

And as things could not get any weirder. A mosasaur appeared…

"H,hey! What are you doing!" The mosasaur speaks up, again with a feminine voice…

"Hmm, the same thing you were doing when I got back…" The squid replies.

"W, well I'm back now, so stop it" The mosasaur whines.

"Ohh? You are not going to tell me that you were just half asleep back then?" The squid asks with a slight giggle.

"...I'm. What's the point of hiding what I want?" The mosasaur asks back. The squid giggles back as an answer.

"W, what's so funny?" The mosasaur asks with a flustered voice.

"I see you are taking his words to heart" The squid answers back.

"...You, were awake, weren't you?" The mosasaur asks once again.

"Yes, I wanted to have as much time as I could next to him, before falling asleep. After all, we will be walking all day again" The squid answers back as I feel it's tentacles tighten around me.

(Wait, squids can walk?)

And just as I was thinking that, my sight turned blurry. I close my eyes and shake my head as I feel my brain clearing up.

The next time I opened my eyes, I found Saeko on my right, nuzzling up against my neck.

"H,hey!" I hear another voice to my left. Shifting my sight, I see Saya, dressed in her 'After Rika's house' outfit. The one with the white jacket, black shirt, and green school skirt, her hair was also tied into twin-tails. Then again, that jacket was all she was missing to match the outfit yesterday, and the twin-tails.

Saeko, from what I could see at least, being that her head was blocking most of my view, was still wearing that buttoned shirt.

I shake my head and move my hand to my face, covering my eyes.

"Hum, and look who's finally up…" I heard Saya say as she walked up to me.

"Had fun sleeping with two girls at the same time idiot?" She asks with a slight pout as she kneels down next to me.

"Uhh, what? Wait, who was on night guard, no wait, I was on night guard" I shake my head as I try to get up, something that proved to be impossible with Saeko weighing me down.

"Ughh, are you for real? That's all you have to say? Idiot." She replies as she lightly jabs at my sides.

"Oi, what gives" I bend my body slightly, before jabbing right back at her. She lets out a rather cute short yelp...Before she starts to 'rapid fire' her jabs at me as a retaliation. Something that I was not really able to defend against because Saeko had 'taken over' half of my body.

"Ah! Aaaa, Ok ok ok you win you win, stapstapstap" I start waving my only free arm as I try to avoid Saya's relentless assault. It did wake me up at least..

"Hum, serves you right…" Saya puffs her cheeks as she finally stops jabbing me.

"But seriously, who was on night guard?" I ask the moment I manage to catch my breath.

Saya looks at me for a couple of seconds, before letting out a sigh.

"Saeko took the first round, I took the second, I was actually coming back from it now" Saya finally replies.

"I see, so it's my turn now, feels like I slept for ages to be honest" I nod slightly as I rub my eyes.

"Because you did, we decided to cut the shifts to two…" Saya glances away as she folds her arms.

"Huh? Why?" I ask as I lift an eyebrow.

"Because we wanted to spend more time with you, so we decided to split your shift between us" I hear a new voice to my right, Saeko's.

I turned my head slightly to my right, to see that Saeko was still with her eyes closed, her nose almost touching my neck. Then, I turn back to Saya. She just looked at me for a couple of seconds before glancing away.

"Y, you better be grateful…" She says with a pout as she keeps her arms folded under her chest.

(Oh? She is not denying it?)

"I am" I replied with the most honest voice I could muster, considering the situation.

"Hum, well, you better get your lazy butt off the bed, the sun has been up for quite some time now…" She responds as she gets up and starts walking towards the door. Only to stop midway.

"And hurry up idiot, your food will get cold…" She adds without turning around, then exits the room with a rather hasty pace.

(...Wait, Saya can cook?)

As I was thinking that, I felt two hands wrapping around my neck.

"Naier, girls can get jealous if you're paying attention to others but not them..." I hear a female whisper to my ear.

Turning my head to the right, I find Saeko gazing at me with a smile. Her head still resting on the pillow, aka the sleeping bag.

"Good morning" She spoke up again the moment she locked eyes with me.

"Morning Saeko" I respond as I turn my whole body towards her.

"Slept well?" I ask right after.

Saeko giggles, closes her eyes and slides up closer to me, before bumping her head against my chest.

"This must be the very first time in my life, that I don't want to get off my bed" She replies with a small sigh.

I silently placed my hand to her head, then ran it along her hair.

We stayed like that for a couple of minutes, up to the point that I felt that I would honestly fall asleep again…

"Uhh, we really should get up…" I groan as I bring my hand to my face. Saeko didn't respond.

"Ey, you fell asleep again?" I ask as I put my hand on her shoulder and shake her lightly. The only reaction I got from her was a soft moan…

(If I poke her now, will she reflexively karate chop my throat or something?...Ah fuck it)

I slowly bring my finger up to Saeko's cheek, and poke it. She groans a bit as she tries to 'hide' her face between me and the bed.

"Oi, you fell asleep again?" I poke at her cheek again. Saeko giggles slightly, but stays otherwise motionless.

"Maybe if I had a good morning kiss, instead of cheek poking. It would help me wake up." Saeko whispers with a smile, her eyes still closed.

(Oh, really?)

Without answering, I lean my upper body slightly back and run my finger along her cheek, before stopping it under her chin. Pushing her chin up, I aligned her face with mine. Saeko kept her eyes closed during all this, yet, I could see a visible blush appearing on her cheeks, and her mouth was also very slightly open…

(With such a deep blush, I'd say that she's actually expecting something)

I bring myself forward, and press my lips against hers. Saeko almost instantly starts 'pushing' her face against mine. And after a couple of seconds, I back off and gaze at Saeko as she finally opened her eyes.

"Come on, let's go" I move my hand to the top of her head and ruffle her hair, Saeko nods with a smile as she closes her eyes for a few seconds.

And with that. I get up, take my gear, and head downstairs, where I found Saya sitting on the counter, bento on one hand, chopsticks in the other, looking towards the pool.

"I should have taken the first shift…" Saya whines while still looking at the pool, bringing the chopsticks to her mouth.

"She got more time with him compared to me now..." She says in a low tone after swallowing.

"What?" I 'ask' as I start walking towards her. Causing Saya to turn towards me.

"Finally. You certainly took your sweet time getting up" She responds with a slight pout.

"Guess I was more tired than I thought" I respond as I stop next to her and spot two more bentos next to her, along with a set of chopsticks and my swiss knife.

"Well don't blame me if it's cold now" She turns her towards her own bento before she starts eating again.

I nod and pick one of the two extra bentos that laid next to her along with the swiss knife.

(Hmm, She made these? Compared to Saeko's, they look way more, sloppy. For the lack of a better term)

And take then, I take a bite.

(Ohh? It's actually pretty good)

"You just thought that it's weird that I can cook, didn't you…" Saya speaks up as she turns to me with a frown, narrowing her eyes in the process.

"Well, I thought that you'd have people that cooked for you in your house. Not you as you, but your whole family" I respond as I turn to her.

"And even if I did, does that mean that I should not be allowed to learn how to cook if I want to?" She asks again, the frown still on her face.

"No, of course I didn't mean it like that Saya. I just didn't take you for a person who would spend time learning something without a reason" I respond as I glance at my bento.

"Hum, and what makes you think I had no reason" Saya responds as she turns back to her food, bringing her chopsticks to her mouth.

"So you had a reason? Heh, what was it? You learned how to cook so you can bring homemade food to Takashi or something?" I ask with a slight chuckle as I turn to her.

Saya instantly darts her head to me, her eyes going as wide as they could get. While her cheeks started to blush...

"Wait...for real?" I ask again as I raise an eyebrow and tilt my head.

"S...shut up..." She glanced around before quickly turning back to her food.

(Holy crabs Saya. The work you've put in for Takashi is like successfully making a supercar from the ground up, while forgetting to add the frigging wheels. Seeing as you failed on the most basic part of being kind to him…)

"Well, his loss" I shrug slightly as I start eating.

And as I bring the fork close to my face, Saeko comes down the stairs, looking completely awake.

"Good morning" She says as she walks up to us.

"Morning..." Saya mumbles as she keeps looking at her bento.

Saeko then walks up next to me, takes the third bento, and sits next to me.

"By the way. We, we have to set another rule." Saya speaks up just as Saeko took a seat. Causing both of us to turn to her.

"Taking turns…" She says right after with a low tone as she keeps looking at her bento.

"Taking what?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"Sleeping on the double bed, we will take turns sleeping on it" Saya adds as she glances at me.

"It's too packed when all three of us are on it…" She adds right after.

"Well, it is supposed to be for two people after all" I respond as I leave the bento on my legs and fold my arms.

"Makes sense. So, how will we 'take turns'?" Saeko adds as she tilts her head.

"Me or you will sleep on the single bed today, the other one will sleep on it the day after" Saya responds as she turns to stare at Saeko.

"And I will sleep there on the third day?" I ask.

"N, no. You, you are the leader. So you need to always be in top shape. So you will only sleep on the double one" Saya glances around as she answers.

(...Ohh, sneaky snek is trying to be sneaky. Especially considering that the single bed was actually way more expensive. But whatever, hell knows I don't mind this 'setup'...)

"I took the first shift, so I'm going to take the first turn" Saya adds right after.

"Very well" Saeko responds as she closes her eyes, leaves the bento next to her, and stretches.

"Also, Naier" Saya then turns her focus to me. And the moment she saw me looking at her.

"I looked at the map for a bit, I have a couple of paths set up that we can take to reach the mansion, once we're ready, look at them and tell me which one you think we should take" She adds as she keeps fiddling with the rice in the bento with the chopsticks.

"Good idea, we'll check em once we're done here" I respond as I nod.

"By the way, Naier..." Just as I finish speaking, Saeko speaks up. Turning my head around I find her staring at me.

"You have not forgotten about my weapon training, have you?" She asks.

"Nope, after you're finished eating, change to your normal uhh, gear. And we'll start" I respond as I point at her bento.

"Alright, I will change after I have finished, if what I am wearing now bothers you" Saeko responds as she looks at her half-buttoned shirt…

(Oh yea, ignore the fact that your boobs are sixty-five present visible with that shirt that you left unbuttoned, I need to focus on the gun, not your boobs. Hmm, better if I don't actually say that, Saya will probably go ballistic on me if she hears that)

"Better to show you how to use it while you're wearing the equipment that you'll actually use with it" I respond as I start eating. Saeko giggles slightly before nodding…

(Giggling aren't you, bet you knew exactly 'why' I'm telling you to change...)

With that out of the way, we ate in relative silence…

Though I do have to admit, both girls looked to be in higher spirits compared to yesterday.

After we were done, Saeko took the bentos to the sink in the bathroom, while I headed to the car to get the first part of my 'outfit'. Getting there though...I came to a terrifying realization…

"Were, the fuck, is, my, mask..." I narrow my eyes as I look at the car's front bumper.

I kneel down and look under the Humvee, nothing. Unlocked the car and looked inside, nada…

(The balaclava is missing too, and I pretty much stabbed it through the antenna. I smell treason)

I turn around and start heading back towards the back door.

(One of the two yoinked it? Hmm, question is, who? Both were pretty much demanding to take it off...)

With that thought, I return to the store's main room, to find Saya with her back turned to me, disassembling the hard plastic pool.

(How do I go about this? Both of them 'might' have taken it…)

As I was thinking, Saya turns around and spots me.

"What are you standing there for?" She asks as she tilts her head.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking how both of you will be toast if I don't get my mask back in less than ten minutes." I respond with a deadpan face.

"W, what?" Saya keeps staring at me for a couple of seconds…

"What makes you think one of us took it" She asks as her eyebrows curve into a frown.

"The mask was in the inside part of the barricade, if a random survivor passed, fat chance they jumped over to just take the mask, the balaclava is missing too, and it's impossible for it to 'fall' as it was stabbed through the antenna, which was still intact." I answer as I fold my arms.

"Well I didn't take it" Saya also folds her arms as she leans her upper body towards me, flat out denying her involvement.

Just then, I saw the door to my right open, the one that led to the bathroom. Saeko walked out with the bentos on her hands, she then closed the door with her leg and took a deep breath. After that she turned to us, tilting her head the moment she realized that we were both staring at her.

"Is, there something wrong?" She asks.

"Idiot here is saying that one of us hid his stupid mask" Saya responds as puts her arms on her hips and turns to glance at me.

"You can't find it?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"I wouldn't be asking you two if I could find it" I respond as I tilt my head.

"Want me to help you look?" She asks right after.

"You do realize that you are a suspect too don't you, you voted against it along with Saya after all" I answer as with a slight one-sided smirk. Saeko responds with a slight giggle.

"Of course, I understand." She answers as she smiles back at me.

"You can search all my belongings if you want to, I don't mind" She adds right after as she keeps looking at me.

"Well seeing as both of you deny it, either I got a ninja stalker, or one of you is pulling my leg" I respond as I look towards the ceiling then turn to look back at the girls…

"So, I'm going to ask again one last time, who yoinked my mask. If I get an answer now, I'll leave it at that. " I ask again as I turn to look at the two staring girls...No response.

"Nothing?...Come on corpses didn't take it, I'd rather know that one of you took it instead of coming to the conclusion that an alive person, that was not from our group, came this close to us without us realizing." I tilt my head as I keep looking at the two girls.

"If it was a person, why would they just steal the mask and leave?" Saya asks right after.

"It's far enough to be safe, but close enough to show that they can be a threat" I respond.

"Aren't you overthinking this a little bit Naier?" Saeko was the next one to speak.

(Overthinking? Sweetheart, I went full Spec Ops in order to hide a bat in a vent. A bat, in a vent.)

"If it means I'll avoid seeing you two getting hurt, then yes, I am overthinking this. Last thing I need is waking up with a gun pointed at my head and hoping that the one holding it ain't a damn rapist" I respond as I take turns looking at them. Both of them just stood there, staring at me…Until Saya looked away with a sigh.

"We can't even pull a little prank without you blowing it out of proportion…" She groans as she keeps looking away.

"I have your stupid mask, stop freaking out, nobody is after us…" She adds up as she turns to me while folding her arms. Saeko just lowered her head slightly and walked past me, though, I could see a smile on her face.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry. We were actually both in this" She says as she leaves the bentos on the table.

"But, I am happy to know that you care about me this much. It means a lot to me" Saeko adds as she turns around to look at me with a warm smile.

Saya then walked, or pretty much stomped, her way to the counter. Went behind it, and took her bag. After opening it, she pulled my mask and balaclava out and left them on the counter…

I walk up to the counter and take my stuff.

"And now I'm definitely never taking it off again" I say as I wear my headgear back on.

"Hey, it was just a joke idiot. We won't do it again….' Saya responds with a slight pout as she narrows her eyes at me.

"Hmm, we'll see. For now, Saeko, please get dressed, Saya check that we didn't leave anything behind. I will go to the second floor to get my gear and deal with the inflatables" I respond as I turn to walk towards the hallway.

"And I had it all planned out so perfectly. Stupid idiot" I hear Saya whisper behind me.

(She had the what what now?)

Ignoring Saya's last statement I head back to the second floor. There, I wore the rest of my gear. Vest, arm/leg guards, Scar-H, handgun, my bag, you get the idea.

(Ok, I should deflate the 'beds' now)

With that thought, I started to deflate the double inflatable. In the laziest way possible, by sitting on it. After taking the pump's nozzle out and sticking it into the inflatable's valve. No way I'm keeping that thing pressed till it's over.

(Hmm, I know I didn't clean my gear other than my mask. But they don't look dirty at all. Did somebody else do it? Then again, I didn't fight too much for them to get dirty. Heh, Never thought I'd use the words 'didn't fight too much' in a friggin zombie apocalypse. Guess that shows how valuable Saeko is to the group in a survival aspect.)

I stretch before 'slapping' my hands on the bed I was on.

(To think, I was kissing with Saeko here some time ago. I know the only reason this whole thing with me Saeko and Saya is possible because of the outbreak, but I do wish that we were not in the middle of it right now. Though then, I'd say fat chance they would accept 'sharing'..."

Bored of waiting, I take the Scar-H and start unloading it, then take the bullets I took out and start filling them back in the magazine.

(Hmm, I got only one mag for the Scar right? I don't remember getting a second one from the dude in the armory at Saya's house. Uhh, this does limit the total rounds I can carry. At least, I know that Japan's special forces group uses Scar's. So, who knows...)

I turn to look at the bed after a few seconds.

"God, how long will this take…" I groan under my breath…

**-Several minutes later-**

I had my eyes closed and my head resting on my hands…

"I need to figure a better way to do this. The double one is too big…" I glance at the bed without moving my head as I speak to myself…

I was about to get up, when I heard footsteps from the door that was ahead of me, the one that led to the stairs. And seconds later, Saya appeared by the door frame.

"We are done downstairs, we folded the pool too" She says as she folds her arms and turns to her left, or my right. Towards the deeper, darker part of the room.

"I see, I still need to deflate these" I respond.

Saya just nods while still looking away.

"Hey, umm" She speaks up as she turns to me.

"...Sorry" She whispers.

"What?" I 'ask' acting as if I didn't hear her whisper.

"I know you heard me idiot. You always hear me when you're not supposed to…" She responds with a pout as she wraps her folded arms a little tighter around her.

"Don't worry, we all need to joke around some times" I respond as I raise both arms and shrug slightly.

"It still doesn't make it right, I didn't realize that you were this troubled about our safety" She shakes her head slightly as she speaks.

After a few seconds of silence, I tap on the bed I was on, Saya tilts her head while staying in place.

"Come'er" I say as I tap on the inflatable again. Saya glances around before looking at me again.

(There's nobody else around you idiot, who do you think I'm talking to?)

She lowers her head slightly, walks up to me and flops on the bed, taking a seat to my left.

She then puts her hands on her knees, and keeps looking at them. After a few seconds, she takes a deep breath.

"Look, I..." She exhales as she speaks, and closes her eyes. Then takes another deep breath as she opens her eyes.

"I know I can sometimes come off as obnoxious and insensitive. I'm not stupid, I understand how my actions can make other people see me" She kept looking at her kees as she spoke.

"You know, Rei and Takashi. They were the only real friends I had. They were the only ones that didn't act all nice to me because I was a 'Takagi', trying to reach my parents through me or plainly wanting 'something' from me. Most people I knew didn't even look at me in the eye when they spoke to me. And before you say something retarded, it was like that before I started acting like this too..." Saya closes her eyes and 'smiles'.

"But hey, I guess the snobby rich kid persona suits me better. At least I don't have to deal with idiots that think I'm too stupid to understand their game…" She adds as she brings her knees to her chests, wrapping her arms around her legs in the process.

(To think I called her out to sit with me so I could make this thing deflate faster. Only for her to lay this on me…)

"Say something…" Saya whispers in a low tone…

"Saya, you don't have to explain yourself to me. And I got to say, compared to our first meet up, we went quite the way in terms of how you act towards me" I respond as I put my hand on her head and ruffle her hair.

"That was, back then I...sorry" She lets her head sway slightly as I keep stroking her head, making no obvious effort to stop me.

"It's fine, but if you need to hear in order to let it go. Apology accepted" I respond as I stop patting the pinkette.

"Huh, I keep calling myself a genius, yet I could not see how throwing the leader title on you was troubling you" She responds as she keeps looking at her knees.

"Hm? What makes you think…"

"Be real Naier. You managed to link a missing mask to us getting attacked by rapists. That's not called overthinking it, it's called being paranoid. And you yourself said the reason is because you don't want us to get hurt. I also suspect that 'Us', is just Me and Saeko, seeing as you yourself can get so reckless that's it becomes idiotic..." Saya cuts me off as she finally turns to look at me.

"And while you were being paranoid about our safety, I wanted to pull a 'prank'. Some genius…" She adds as she turns to look back ahead of her, resting her head on her legs.

"Saya, I hate to break it to you, but pranks or not, I will still be paranoid about that certain thing until we are really safe" I respond as I put my hand on her back.

"Because you're an idiot...but. It does make me, a little happy..." She says as she turns her head away from me, lowering her voice even more.

(...)

I bring my left arm from her back to her left shoulder, and pull her towards me. With a short yelp and some slight arm flailing, she ends up with her head on my left leg.

"W, what are you doing...Idiot" Despite her protest though, she wraps her arms around my leg. I ignore her 'protest' and start stroking her head.

"I'm not a damn cat…" Again, despite her words, she closed her eyes and stayed in place…

We silently stayed like that for some time. Until...

"Promise me, that you will survive this" She fondles her head against my leg slightly as she speaks up.

"I want to. I want to spend more time with you. Without these, 'things' waiting outside the front door. To just, be able to watch a movie without worrying…" She tightens her hug around my leg as she speaks.

"Will we even have movies if we manage to drive the corpses back?" I ask as I tilt my head, my hand still on her head.

"It's not like the technology is lost. If we can take back the power plants and factories, repair them and redirect their power and materials or items to locations that are clear of them, of corpses…" Saya stops in the middle of her sentence.

"Uhh, fine watching a movie might be a bit complicated for now, just sitting on the roof to look at the view then, to chat together. I…" She stops again, and gets up to a sitting position.

"You said you always keep your promises. So promise me that, please" She lowers her head slightly as she finishes her sentence.

I took a deep breath, but before I could even say anything...

"Not like this, take your mask off. I want 'you' to promise me. Not the mask" She cuts me off.

I sight slightly and take off my headgear. Then turn to look at Saya.

"I promise" I answer flatly as I keep staring at her eyes…

Saya keeps looking at me for a few seconds, before quickly leaning forward, locking her lips with mine for what must have been less than a second. She then backs off and quickly gets up.

"You better not break it. I don't want my first kiss to be for a broken promise" Saya adds with her back still turned to me, then leaves the room at a quick pace. While I was left there, looking at the door, like an idiot.

(Ok, that, just happened. What's with everybody going after my lips today? First Saeko, now Saya. Maybe I'm still asleep? Giant, friendly squids sounds more realistic than this right now.)

I tilt my head as I get up and start folding the now deflated bed, then head to the second, single one.

(Watching a movie huh. That does sound nice. Maybe I could make her play a video game, God knows I need me some co-op partners, or well, I used to. I'm kinda missing my pc here, and my steam account. Does this world even have Steam and it's meme-able steam sales? I honestly didn't check. I know it has consoles though, as I saw what I think was a PS4 look alike )

"Hmm, I also need to show Saeko how to use her gun…" I whisper to myself as I keep looking at the single inflatable.

"Up here it's a bit too dark, but with a flashlight, it should be fine." I nod to myself as I wear back my mask…

With that, I headed downstairs to find Saeko and Saya chatting with each other, the pool was folded next to the bentos on the counter. Saeko had also dressed up back in her normal attire.

"We set here?" I ask as I walk into the room, causing the girls to turn towards me.

"Yea, you finished with the second inflatable already?" Saya asks.

"No, but I did say I'd show Saeko how to use her gun. So instead of wasting time, she can come and help with the bed while I show her how to use it" I respond.

Saya folds her arms and mumbles as she glances away, obviously not looking very cheery about my 'idea'. Saeko then turns to her.

"You had your private lesson with him for your gun, I can't have mine?" She 'asks'.

"I, I didn't say anything" Saya responded with an obvious pout...

(...That's what I get for playing in two fields at the same time. I need to get this out of the way. Before it festers into something worse)

"Ok, If we are setting rules here, I also have one" I speak up before Saeko could respond, causing both girls to turn to me.

"You two, no infighting" I add up as I fold my arms.

"We're not fighting..." Saya answers with the pout still on her face.

"And let me make another thing clear" I turned to look to my right, towards the tinted glass wall that separated this room from the warehouse.

"You can take it any way you want. But if I have to pick between the two of you…" I stop talking and turn to look at the girls, who were now silently staring at me.

"Then I'm picking none." I add up…

"...You are being really unfair right now" Saya glances away as she keeps her arms folded.

"I know, but I'm not going to make a decision that favors one of you while hurting the other" I respond as I glance at Saya.

"Just wanted to make myself clear, both of you are important to me." I add as I keep looking at the girls.

(I expected something like this to happen sooner or later. But God it leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth. As there ain't a real 'nice' way to solve it. And I can't exactly clone myself... )

Saya then sighs and drops her head, along with her shoulders.

"Uhh, even when it's not really my fault, you still manage to make me feel bad about it…" She lifts her head and looks at me as she raises both her eyebrows, leaving her mouth slightly open.

"Well, he is a sweet talker after all" Saeko butts in with a giggle.

"And a big one at that" Saya adds as she corrects her posture and folds her arms.

"If it keeps you two from pouting at each other..." I respond as I tilt my head.

"Hum, and who's fault do you think that is?" Saya answers with a frown as she leans towards me. I lower my head slightly and raise both arms.

"I got nothing to say to that, because you're right" I responded as I lowered my hands...and then, we stayed silent, sort of switching glances between each other…

"...Ok, this, is getting kind of awkward…" I scratch the back of my head as all three of us stayed in place.

"My gun training?" Saeko asks as she places her hand over the M92 on her hip.

I reflexively turn to Saya as Saeko asks that. She blinks at me a couple of times.

"What are you looking at me for, you want my approval or something?" She asks with a pout.

"Uhh, well, you know…" I respond as I tap my mask.

Saya closes her eyes and shakes her head with a groan.

"You're hopeless…" She pinches the bridge of her nose with her fingers as she speaks. And after a few seconds, she opens her eyes and looks at me.

"F, fine. I'll go deal with the inflatable" She folds her arms and leans towards me.

"But I'm expecting some sort of compensation for doing this" She adds as she narrows her eyes. Then turns around and starts walking towards the hallway without waiting for my reply.

"O...k?" I answered after Saya had left the room…

And after a few seconds of silence.

"Umm, so. Can we?..." Saeko speaks up, glancing around without moving her head as she slowly kept moving her right hand up and down over her left forearm.

"Y, yea. Let so outside, better lighting" I respond with a nod. And start walking…

(Man, that, was weird)

After we got in the back alley I stopped and turned towards Saeko.

"To the Humvee. We can use the corpses on the visible part of the street as targets, no actual shooting for now though, too loud." I motion with my head as I start moving again. Saeko followed behind me in silence...

"Are you bothered about what happened back there?" Saeko asks as she keeps walking behind me.

"I will be lying if I said that I was not expecting it to happen sooner or later with what I'm doing. I mean, nobody really likes 'sharing' in this sort of stuff. But I'm more bothered with the fact that I can't do anything about it, rather than the fact that it happened" I respond as I keep walking.

"Do you regret your decisions?" Saeko asks again as she keeps walking behind me.

"...No. As I said, both of you are important to me" I answer as we reach the Humvee.

"Let's sit on the roof" I add as I climb up the hood, then walk up to the hood and sit down. Saeko ended up sitting next to me shortly after seiza style. She then took the gun out of its holster.

"I'm ready for your lesson..." She says as she extends the hand that held the gun towards me.

"Master" She adds the moment I put my hand on the gun, causing my sight to lift from the gun to her face.

"I'm the master? Oh, we're doomed" I respond with a chuckle as I take the gun, Saeko giggles slightly as she closes her eyes.

"Ok, where do you want to start from?" I ask as I turn my sight back to the M92.

"Hmm, from the beginning please" She responds as she scoots closer to me. Until she was able to lean her shoulder against mine.

(A little closer and she'll be sitting 'on' me with the way she's going…)

"Alright. So let's start with the important things" I bring my finger near the gun's hammer, then under the rear sight, on the cylindrical safety switch and the small 'lever' it has on it.

"Right now the safety is on, you can figure this out from the fact that you can not see a red dot here" I keep pointing at the safety switch as I speak.

"Now this" I flick the switch to the left, causing it to rotate to about forty-five degrees. Under where the small lever used to be, was now a red dot.

"This means the gun can now fire" I say as I point at the red dot, Saeko nods slightly without turning to look at me, her focus completely on the gun.

"Now next, behind the trigger is a small button as you can see here" I flick the safety back on and point at the mag release button.

"This will make the magazine drop. And I mean that literally, it will fall out without you doing anything else if the magazine is looking towards the ground, so keep that in mind. You don't want to end up losing the magazine because you kicked it by accident while you were on the move." I press the eject button and pull the magazine out, then slam it back in.

"Kick it? That's oddly, specific..." Saeko 'asks' as she turns to me.

"I do the stupid mistakes so you don't have to" I respond as I glance at her, Sakeo brings her hand to her mouth and giggles.

"What are these for?" She asks as she points at the two small 'switches' that were over the trigger.

"Right, the first one, the cylindrical one that is furthest from the trigger. Is the disassembly safety lever, or take down lever. You turn that to look 'down' if you want to take the gun apart, as it will let you remove the upper part of the gun. The second, stick looking one, is the slide catch. The slide is the upper part of the gun by" I point at the switches before running my finger along the upper part of the gun, from the front sights, to the rear ones.

"This gun is semi-automatic, that means once you fire the first shot, the next one will enter the chamber automatically, this lever makes it so once the last shot is fired, the slide will stay back. That way, once you add a new mag, you just press it and the slide goes forward, adding a new round in the chamber, rather than having to pull the slide back your self manually" I take out the magazine and pull back the slide as I explain how the slide catch works, then, after the slide itself got locked back, I press the switch, causing the slide to rush forward. Then, I put the magazine back inside and picked up the stray bullet that flew out.

"Hmm, Ok. Look at the gun's rear sight" I then lift the gun and point it towards the street ahead of us. Saeko leans next to my face as she keeps looking at the gun.

"See these two white dots on the back end of the gun?" I ask, she nods.

"That's the rear sight, the one white dot in the front is the front sight" I lower my hand and bring the gun in front of her.

"Take it, try to aim" I say as I glance at the safety, making sure it's on. Saeko nods and takes the gun, then tries to replicate what I did.

"Use both hands, and close one eye" I take her free hand and bring it to the gun's grip, Saeko nods and closes one eye as she keeps aiming the gun.

"Now, try to align the two sights to be in the same height, while making sure that when looking through the middle gap of the rear sights, you see the white dot of the front one" I move behind Saeko as I keep speaking, to get a better look at what she is looking at.

"And now try to align your eye with the rear si…" I stop in the middle of my sentence.

(That would be a bit weird to understand, hmm…)

"Naier?" Saeko, probably because I stopped mid-sentence. Turns to look at me, her cheek almost touching my mask.

"Hmm, try to keep your wrist straight. If you need to move the gun, move it by moving your whole arm from your shoulder when moving up or down. And to move left or right turn your upper body, think of it as trying to be as rigid as possible when aiming. If your joints are loose, then your aim will probably be off, worst, you might end up with the gun slamming your face if the recoil is too strong. Also, try to keep the guns rear sights aligned with the eye you are using to aim, like how you align the front and back sight." I respond as I pat her on the shoulder, She nods and turns to look back at the gun.

"Can this gun get stuck like Saya's?" She asks right after.

"Yea, all guns can jam" I responded.

"If that happens, take the magazine off, and strongly pull back the slide by yourself. Usually the slide itself will not be in the correct position when the gun jams, so you can try to manually bring the slide back and let it go forward a couple of times, this brings the stuck bullet in the chamber most of the time, then insert the magazine back in." I point at the slide as I speak.

"If it's a bullet that got stuck while leaving the gun, you do the same thing again, though that's rarer than a bullet getting stuck while loading 'into' the gun. Realistically for you though, if your gun jams, better use your sword" I add up, Saeko nods at me.

"Also remember, be careful with the magazines, they are essentially how many bullets you can have on you, if one is empty put it back in the mag holster you have on your leg, as it can be reloaded with bullets later" I point at the bottom of the gun as I keep speaking. Saeko nods again.

"You will show me how to load bullets on the magazine?" She asks as she tilts the gun sideways.

"With Saya, she doesn't know how to do that either" I respond, Saeko nods without speaking back.

"Anything else I should know?" She asks once again.

"Always holster your gun with the safety on, if you have the slightest hunch that you might forget to do that, stick with the sword. You don't want the gun blasting a bullet through your leg" Saeko nods at me as she runs her finger on the safety.

"Should I shoot?" She asks.

"Not yet. For now, try reloading the gun" I respond as I shake my head. Saeko nods and does as I ask.

"Once you feel comfortable doing that, try doing it without looking, you want your eyes on the corpses, not the gun" I say as Saeko kept inserting and ejecting the mag…

And like that, we stayed on the roof of the car, Saeko fiddling with the gun, while I stared at the alleyway that led to the road…

**-Several minutes later-**

(For a residential area, this place has a really small number of dead stuff walking around...)

"You're not done yet?" I hear a new voice behind me, turning to it, I see Saya. The sleeping bags and folded inflatables under her arms, along with two bags, one on each shoulder…

"Damn, you didn't have to carry everything Saya." I respond as I get up, jump down the car and walk up to her, then turn to Saeko and motion her with my head to come. She nods and jumps down the car as well.

"I went the extra mile, so I'm expecting something nice from you now" Saya replies with a slight grin as she narrows her eyes and leans forward.

(Oh you sneaky snek mk2)

I hold myself back from chuckling and take some of the sleeping bags. And after opening the back door, I dump them inside the car.

"What's left?" I ask as I turn around.

"The pool, the bentos and the stove, along with the duffle bag." Saya answers.

"I'll go get them" Saeko speaks up right after.

"Alright. Saya, once we're set with the stuff you have, we'll check the map." I nod at Saeko and turn to look at Saya as I speak.

"Oh and.." Then turn to Saeko again.

"You shoot before we leave" I add as I point my finger at Saeko. She keeps blinking at me for a few seconds...

"I will do my best not to disappoint you" She responds with a smile as she nods, then turns around to walk towards the back of the store.

After that, I took one more of the sleeping bags that Saya was carrying and headed towards the car.

"The map is in your bag?." I ask as I place a sleeping back inside the trunk through the back door.

"Yea" Saya nods slightly as she gives me one of the actual bags.

"I see...Ok. So, what do you want?" I ask as I take the bag and place it in the middle of the two back seats.

"What do you mean?" She asks as she gives me the other bag.

"Your compensation" I replied as I left the bag she just gave me next to the other one.

"Hum, use your brain. Because I'm not telling you" Saya answers with a slight smirk as she glances at me.

"Are you sure about that? I'm not responsible if I botch your 'compensation'" I ask as I raise an eyebrow and turn to look at her.

"Hah, you wish. Botch it and you'll have to do it again" Saya snickers as she tosses me the last sleeping bag.

"Hmm, is that so?" I 'ask' as I put the last sleeping bag in the car.

"Yes, that is so" She answers as her grin widens, leaning forward towards me with her hands on her hips.

"Well, if you want a lifetime of sweaters and socks, then suit yourself" I say as I chuckle and get out. Saya responds with a frown, and brings her face closer to mine.

(Is she honestly trying to look threatening now? Because she just looks cute to be honest)

Just as I was about to speak, Saeko appeared from the corner of the alleyway to my left, carrying the rest of our equipment. After she came up to us, we placed the rest of the stuff inside of the car and then entered it ourselves.

"Sweaters and socks...idiot" Saya whispers as she enters the passenger's seat, takes her bag from the back seats and pulls the map out. I lean towards her as she starts running her finger on the map.

"Ok, what do you have for me?" I ask as I lean closer.

"Uhh. Right now we're here." She points at the right part of the central landmass, on the higher part of the map, near the top end of the central landmass.

"The mansion is here" She then pointed at the left part of the central landmass, a little higher than the center in height.

"The three routes we can take are. Seaside if we go up in the map, if I remember correctly the house with the boat was seaside too, maybe we can use it to rest if we find it on the way. It's also the safest route considering, as corpses can't swim, so we won't have to worry about one side of the road. But it's also the furthest route we can take" She says as she runs her finger along the coastline.

"The second one is going straight from here. This will lead us to the…" She stops talking and places her finger on…

"The mall" I say as I look at where her finger is pointing.

"Yea. I understand if you don't want to take that path. Plus we know the place is overrun, big chance it has a lot of corpses there" Saya adds in a low tone.

"The third one is going down from here. It's the quickest, but we never used these roads. In difference with the other two paths. We don't know if the humvee can drive on them" Saya then turns to me. Blinks a couple of times, and blushes.

"W, when did you get so close!" She leans her upper body away from me as she shoves the map to my face.

"I was sitting here from the moment you opened the map..." I respond with a muffled voice.

"W, well warn me next time you idiot!" She shouts again.

"Saya, I don't think shouting was a good idea" Saeko speaks up as she points at the windshield, several corpses had strayed from the road and were now coming our way.

"Hm, matters not, let's go. Saeko, go over the hatch, fire a couple of shots to get the feel of the gun. Once you're back inside, I'll drive off." I respond as I get back on the driver's seat.

And as Saeko went through the open hatch and aimed the handgun, I started the engine.

(Alright, three paths. So, Which one to take?)


	42. On the road

**4 days before extraction**

(Man, driving inside a big city during a zombie apocalypse is fucking nuts. Half the roads are blocked off, the other half are overrun by corpse parades…)

"Naier, you must take a left turn somewhere. If you want to reach the shore today." Saya speaks up as she keeps looking at the map.

"Yea I know, it's just that all the roads leading to the shore look like friggin crap..." I groan as I glance at the map in Saya's hands...

After leaving the store, we decided to take the longest way around. In other words, going by the coastline. The reason? We still had four days left before extraction. And while this route was the longest one, it was also the 'safest' one. That's because the Humvee is able to drive on sand without any real trouble, which means we can get past any blocked off roads as long as we have a beach next to us. We also know the roads there are, or at least were traversable, as we drove there once before.

"By the way." Saya speaks up again as she presses her finger on the map.

"If you turn at the intersection after the one we're about to reach now, there should be a gas station between us and the coastline" She adds up.

"Hmm, a gas station eh? We could use the fuel." I nod as I keep looking ahead.

"But…" I stop talking as I narrow my eyes. Causing Saya to lift her head from the map and to look at me.

"A gas station is the perfect spot for an ambush. Especially now, if you consider that working cars are as rare as they can get." I say as I keep looking at the road.

"I guess, that's true…" Saya nods slightly and glances back at the map.

"What if we try to siphon fuel from the cars that have been left around? Even if they don't work, the fuel in them should still be usable." She asks after a few seconds.

"Hmm, that could work. But we need to cut the hose in two for that. We can't have water inside it if we want to use it for fuel. Don't want to pull a short one on the car, hell knows we can't repair it." Respond as I tilt my head from left to right.

"Actually, I have a lot of information concerning the Humvee in the textbook, I looked it up while we were in my house, things like checking the oil, and water. Or how to change batteries. Humvees are supposed to have a couple of extras in them, I think under my seat. Or the one behind me, the one Saeko is on." Saya glances at the bag by her feet as she answers.

"We'll still need materials that we have no chance of finding though." I answer as I keep looking at the road.

"Only if you crash the car like an idiot." She responds as she turns to me with a rather smug look.

(Ohh, you're lucky I have both hands on the wheel my dear pinkette.)

"Do you want me to cut the hose in two?" I hear Saeko ask from the back seats.

"Yea, I should have the combat knife in a side pocket in my bag, use that." I nod as I point behind my seat with my thumb, while keeping my eyes on the road ahead.

Saeko did not respond, but judging from the shuffling I started to hear behind me, I'd say she was searching my bag.

"In that case, turn now, or after the next intersection. If you want to avoid the gas station." Saya turns to look back at the map as she starts speaking.

"No, we will pass through it. Maybe we can take a fuel canister or two. The humvee is a gas guzzler, even the lightly armored version, and we have what? Five canisters?" I glanced at the fuel indicator as I spoke.

"And we are a little under half right now. If I remember correctly, a Humvee needs four canisters to fully top up." I add as I look back at the road.

"Five." Saya corrects me with a monotonous voice.

"The road after the gas station, is it 'normal'? Does it have any bridges? Narrow roads?" I ask as I drive past an intersection, swerving lightly around a crashed car.

Saya runs her finger on the map for a couple of seconds…

"Normal, I don't see any rivers interlocking with it." She says as she turns to me.

"Good, we'll head to the gas station then. Pick anything close to us, then leave. I'm not taking any risks. We still have food, gas, and ammo to go around." I glance at Saya and nod, before turning my sight towards the next intersection that was a little further off.

(I know I shouldn't jinx it, but we have yet to run into any hostile survivors ever since the mall, if we count them as hostile. I mean, one dude tried to literally rape Shizuka and we had to choke him in order to make him stop. Don't think a ' Kind sir, would you kindly stap raping my friend' would have done the trick back there.)

With that, I focused on the road. And after teaching a couple of corpses how to fly. Sorry, I meant how to jump good. We reached the next intersection.

I slowed down the Humvee before taking a turn to the left, going over the sidewalk to avoid a pile-up that had overtaken most of the road.

(I don't see smoke coming from the cars, but the place has too many corpses, plus too many blind spots under the cars. Not going to stop here.)

I kept looking at the crashed cars as we drove past them, before looking back ahead at the road.

(Hmm, the road seems to start going uphill from here.)

"If you drive straight from here, there should be a gas station to our right." Saya points at the road ahead as she lifts her head.

"Ok. So, how should we do this…" I nod as I narrow my eyes and start to think.

"We stop the car, exit, and take whatever we find? It's not that hard." Saya raises an eyebrow as she turns to me.

"Treat every moment like you are about to get jumped on Saya, especially in moments like these. No, I will check what we can take from the car, drive up to whatever it is and use the car as a one side shield. You two will get out, I'll keep guard with the gun from the hatch." I shake my head as I keep driving.

"Where should we place what we find?" Saeko asks right after as she leans between the two front seats.

"In the middle of the back seats, on the platform that leads to the trunk." I respond without turning around.

"Very well." Saeko answers as she keeps leaning between the two seats...

And like that, I drove forward…

Several minutes later, Saya pointed ahead and to our right, at a big red platform that was elevated by two pylons.

"That's the one." She says as she keeps pointing at it. I nod slightly and slow down the car…

(I can see a bunch of cars around the station, none of them seem to have crashed, they look abandoned. I also can't see anything of worth around the fuel dispensers. But, I think I can see a couple of red, small containers next to the station's front door.)

"I see a few gas canisters by the station's main building. I'll drive there, be ready." I say as I steer the humvee towards the station and start picking up speed.

Saya nods and leaves the map next to her seat, on the platform that led to the back of the car. While Saeko disappeared in the back.

"And no crazy antics." I add up as Ι let one hand from the wheel and grab the Scar-H that was next to me.

"Says the guy who is more reckless than all of us combined." Saya snickers as she glances at me.

"So I can say out of experience, it ain't a very smart choice to make" I respond as I stop the car next to the front door and turn to Saya, then get up and go through the hatch.

And as the two girls exited the car, I turned the hatch around until the metal lid was behind me, then looked through the dead scope.

"We have corpses inside the building." I say before glancing behind me, the gun still pointed towards the store.

"What?" Saya asks as she brings the first of the three canisters in the car.

"Corpses inside. They heard the car" I said once again.

"Should we go inside?" Saeko asks right after, bringing the second canister over.

"Entrance hallway only, aka the counter to the right and everything on it. Be quick about it" I respond. Saeko nods and moves towards the door as Saya heads to pick up the last canister.

And as Saya brought the final canister in. Saeko opens the door, glances around and heads inside, then stops next to the counter by the entrance and peers over it. After that she turns to me, points towards the counter's other side and makes a 'two' sign with her fingers.

She then turns around and draws her sword as Saya quickly enters the building with her bag. The moment Saya got near Saeko, the later turned to the pink-haired girl and said something, causing Saya to nod and start shoving everything that was on the counter into the bag, I don't think she was even looking at what she was taking.

(Come on, hurry up.)

The corpses in the rest of the building had by now taken notice of the not so ninja duo, and were now steadily stumbling towards them. I turn my aim slightly to the left, towards the oncoming corpses.

(One, three, five, seven of them coming from one direction. I should be able to...)

Yet, before I could even finish that thought, I heard a female shriek. Darting my eyes to the right, I find Saya in a rather weird pose. Sticking her butt out as she was trying to 'pull' herself back while holding her forearm with her other hand. And, there was another hand, one that was not her own, that held her by her wrist as a head slowly reared up from the opposite side of the counter.

(Fucking hell!)

I quickly aim back at Saya, then at the head that was now with its mouth wide open, the hand that I suspect belonged to it trying to tag Saya's hand closer to its gaping mouth. Saeko also quickly turned around. And that's all she managed to do, as a single shot echoed. The corpse that was holding Saya's hand violently jerked it's head to the right, disappearing under the counter it came from.

Without taking a breath, I turn my aim to the seven oncoming corpses.

The first shot was aimed at the closest one, making it topple on a stand that had a couple of bottles on it, the stand going down along with the corpse.

The second shot went right through the shin of a corpse's front foot, causing it to fall flat on the floor, the two corpses behind it tripping on it shortly after.

I was about to fire a third shoot, when I felt something tugging my pants.

"Naier we're in! Go!" Saeko shouts as her face appears in the gap between me and the hatch.

I nod, turn the safety on and climb back inside, then sit on the driver's seat and step on the gas. The Humvee, with short wheel spin, starts picking up speed. Leaving the station behind…

After making some distance, I stop the car and turn to Saya.

"Please tell me you didn't get bit?" I 'ask' as I start staring at the arm she was still holding.

"N, No, I'm fine, just a mild bruise. I just got startled, these things have a tighter grip than I expected is all…" Saya responds in a low tone as she lifts the jacket's sleeve, four red marks visible around her wrist.

"We need to get you some arm guards." I respond as I take off one of my gloves and softly take Saya's hand.

"Does it hurt?" I ask as I keep looking at her hand and lightly press on the bruised spot.

"N,no it's fine…" She replies in the same low tone as I twist her hand slightly, to get a better look at her wrist.

(I'm sure that the virus is only transmitted through saliva. But I'm still glad to see no cuts or blood.)

"Maybe you should stay in the car instead of Naier." Saeko says as she keeps looking at the two of us.

"H, hey! I just told you! I just got startled!" Saya shouts back. Lifting my head, I find her glaring at Saeko with a really, really flustered face. Saeko on the other hand, was with her arms folded and looked as casual as ever…

"Saya." I tug her hand slightly.

"What?!" She shouts as she darts her head back to me.

"Please?" I ask with a calm voice as I tilt my head slightly, tugging her hand again.

Saya blinks at me a couple of times, before she slightly turns her head away, shifting her eyes away from me.

"Nobody is good at everything. Being in the frontline isn't the only way you can help, you know that right?" I ask as I stroke her palm with my thumb.

"F, fine…" She answers a few seconds later.

"I don't mean to cut your cuddly moment in two, but we have unwanted guests closing in." Saeko then speaks up, her eyes focused on the window next to her.

I nod and let go of Saya's hand…

"W, what do you mean, c,cuddly?!" Saya blurts out as she darts her head back to Saeko…

(I think this red, is going to be Saya's new permanent face color…)

I hold myself back from chuckling as I press on the gas once again.

"By the way, what did you yoink?" I ask as I glance at Saya.

"Yoink? What are you, a five-year-old?" Saya folds her arms as she turns to me with a frown, the blush still on her face.

"Indeed, I'm a five-year-old that saved a whole estate from the living dead, got high on grass, or whatever that crap was, and most important of all…" I stop talking for a few seconds…

"I'm an overlordy ninja penguin." I add up with the most serious voice I can muster.

"Hmm. So sleeping with two girls at the same time was not a 'feat'?" Saeko asks as she leans between the two front seats once again.

"Now, I can't just call 'that' out, that would be gloating." I say as I finally chuckle.

"Huh, so everything else was not gloating?" Saya asks as she raises an eyebrow.

"Ehh…" I just shrug as I keep my hands on the wheel…

"But. Now that you mention it. I never did thank you, for saving the estate, my parents..." Saya responds with a tad more serious tone as she tightens her folded arms under her chest. Glancing away as she lowers her head.

"You're welcome…" I respond as I nod slightly.

(Truth is, that moment was important in more ways than one. It was the proof I needed, to know that this world ain't on 'rails'.)

Just as that thought passed, I felt a chill run up my spine.

(Saeko falling in love with Takashi, Asami ending with a bullet in her head, Saya probably falling for Kohta, who had to shoot the girl he fell for, aka Asami, the same day he met her. Shido being alive in elementary school pulling his usual shit. All of that, now won't happen. They can't, happen. Well, most of them can't.)

I glance around me as I shake my head. Saya was still looking away while 'hugging' herself. Saeko was looking at the street ahead.

"Wonder where they headed off to after leaving the mansion." I ask.

"I don't know, they didn't tell me. But, if I had to guess. A military installation? Or somewhere by the coastline to have easy access to the sea? They probably scouted a location before leaving. Moving so many people is not something you can do without planning ahead, especially when half of them are as brain dead as the corpses." Saya ends her sentence with a snicker, then picks up the map she left next to her.

(Though, I'm honestly, not really looking forward to meeting you dad again Saya. Especially if he finds out about me you and Saeko, dude's scary enough as it is...)

"Heh, true that. These people probably still call this a 'sickness', and would rather hug a corpse to prove their point…" I respond with a slight chuckle.

"Well, too bad for them if they do." Saeko adds right after.

"Ohh, that's brutal. You don't care that they'll get ripped to shreds?" I 'ask' as I glance behind me. Saeko, stayed silent as she looked away, before turning to look back at me…

"These 'people' would have kicked you out, had you not managed to bring Saya's father back. Forgive me if I don't feel any sympathy for them." She answers with a rather serious tone.

"They were scared. Not going to deny that I would have felt any different though. If one of you was in my place..." I nod slightly as I turn to look back at the road.

"By the way Saya. How far 'in' the landmass are we right now?" I ask as I glance at the pinkette.

"Uhh. About one fifth?" She replies as she keeps looking at the map.

"Hmm, we still got ways to go then. So, what about the stuff we just took?" I ask again.

"What about them?" Saya asks back.

"What did we take?" I raise an eyebrow as I glance at Saya.

"I'll check." Saeko responds as she takes the bag that was next to Saya before she could say anything back, causing her to turn her head towards the back of the car with a pout.

"Saya, I need you on the map in case we find a blocked off roads. Last thing we need is turning towards a dead end." I say, hoping to stop Saya from 'pouting' Saeko to death. She thankfully nods, and turns to focus back on the map…

"How many intersections have you driven past since the gas station?" She asks right after.

"Three." I respond flatly. Saya nods and points her finger on the map.

"Naier? Do you know how to fish?" I hear Saeko ask right after.

"Yea, but only as a hobby." I tilt my head slightly as I answer.

(I used to go fishing with my 'real' father and his zodiac. Never went fishing in this world though.)

"Well, I think your hobby is about to become rather beneficial for us, it seems we picked up a couple of fishing line rolls, along with a box of hooks." Saeko replies as she brings her hand to the front, a spool of monofilament fishing line rolled up on her palm.

"Ohh, nice. I still sort of remember how to tie the hooks on the line, so all we actually need is some bait. And a buttload of patience." I glanced at the fishing line Saeko had extended towards me as I spoke.

"Still, fishing equipment? How far are we till the coastline for a gas station to have fishing equipment?" I ask as I turn my sight back to the uphill road.

"Uhh…" Saya then starts counting, something, on the map.

Yet, before she could finish. The Humvee reached the top of the 'hill'. The new view I had ahead of me, pretty much answering my question.

"Never mind…" I say as I slow down the car to a crawl.

"Huh, why did you ask me if…" Saya lifts her head as she starts to whine, but stops in the middle of her sentence as she looks through the windshield. The sea, was visible from here.

"The road ahead looks clear, but it also doesn't seem to reach the coast, I see buildings 'blocking' it further down." I press on the gas again as I look at the left and right roads of the intersection.

"Hmm, these are also some snacks and sweets here, a couple of batteries, some souvenirs and...uhh..." Saeko stops speaking as I start driving down the road.

"And?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"Umm. These…" Saeko extends her arm forward again. And as I turned to look, the first thing I noticed was Saya's eyes going wide, as her face took a very deep shade of 'red'...

"AAaa! As I told you! I wasn't looking at every little thing I was shoving in the bag!" Saya shouts before I could even speak…

(A small square package, with a round bumb...yea. These are condoms alright...)

I just turn to look back at the road without speaking.

"Well, we can use them for the guns, in case it rains." I respond calmly.

"Y,yea!" Saya starts vigorously nodding multiple times as Saeko giggles and retracts her hand.

"Anything else?" I ask once again.

"Hmm, she picked a couple of different flavors too." Saeko responds, and I swear, she must have been smirking as she said that…

"J, just drop the subject already!" Saya shouts as she darts her head towards the back seats, before quickly turning to 'focus' back on the map, or well, bury her nose into it…

"A couple of pens, three packages of gum, and a few lighters." Saeko then adds with a casual tone.

(I get the feeling that Saeko likes poking Saya more than I do...)

"What about the three canisters? Full? Empty?" I ask as I slow the car down, looking at the oncoming intersection.

"Let me check." Saeko replies, and then goes quiet.

"Saya, next intersection, we need to turn either left or right, which way is better?" I ask as I glance at the map.

Saya does not reply, but starts running her finger on the map nonetheless.

"Go right, the left one has a lot of turns before we can reach the coast." She answers without taking her eyes off the map. I nod and press on the gas again.

"Naier, two are empty, the third one is almost full." Saeko then speaks up again.

"How do they smell? Gasoline?" I ask again.

"Yes." She answers without delay.

"Ok, so all three canisters will be for fuel only, we can use em if we siphon fuel out of another car. Did you cut the hose?" I nod slightly as I slow down the car, and turn to the left…

"Yes, you want me to do something with it?" Saeko asks back.

"Take one and leave it with the canisters. After it's dried up, we'll use it." I respond with a nod.

"You also might wanna turn on the intersection after this one, the road after looks wider on the map." Saya then speaks up. I nod, and keep driving straight.

(Ok, the sea is visible to my left, we can't be too far now. And it's still early in the morning, so if I have the chance, I'd like to stop by the rich folk house if it's on our way. They have normal pillows there, plus some soap, or an extra blanket. Also, we can check the jeep that was there, I have a feeling that it'll be full in the fuel department.)

The moment I reach the intersection Saya mentioned I take a left turn, and instantly hit the brakes, hard…

"Hey! Be careful! Why did you do tha…" Saya raises her head with a frown, but stops speaking the moment she looks through the front windshield...

A giant pile up, not just part of the street, the whole damn section was a no go zone…

(Pinkette's attention span deteriorating at an alarming pace, please send backup.)

"Ughh, should have figured..." Saya groans as she starts looking back at the map...

"Hmm, I don't mean to rush you, but we're about to have…"

Before I could finish my sentence, a lone corpse decided to bump its face on the car…

"Company…" I finish my sentence as I keep staring at the corpse.

"Uhh, keep going straight, check if you can turn on the next road." Saya lifts her head to me, then also starts staring at the corpse…

"When, did 'that' get here…" She asks as she tilts her head and frowns.

"Couple of seconds ago." I say as I glance at Saya, then start driving. Causing said corpse to stumble and fall to the side as the car started to move.

And so, I kept moving forward, until we reached the next intersection. This one, thankfully looked relatively clear. A couple of corpses stumbling on the road, but nothing the Humvee can't 'would you kindly' move out of the way. So, I turned to the left and started going down the road, occasionally pressing on the breaks. No need to pass the car through a wall after all…

(Four days huh. Wonder if we can pay a visit to the 'island' in between, then again, we got nothing there that requires us to visit it. Except for checking if it's really still corpse free. Say we get extracted, we could inform that this place has land free of brain munching idiots. Staying on a ship can last you 'that' long after all. Though, I don't know how good that place would be for building, seeing that it's mostly made of sand. Maybe inside the forest? Or on the small mountain/hill it has…)

"I wonder how Takashi and the rest are doing…" Saya says nonchalantly as she keeps looking at the map.

"They got to the extraction in time, so there is a good chance they got extracted. Overall, they're in a better position than us." I respond as I keep looking at the map.

"You're worried about him?" I ask right after.

"He might be an idiot, but I don't want him to get hurt. Why, are you jealous?" Saya asks as she lifts her head from the map and turns to lean towards me with a smirk.

(Ohh, no you don't.)

"I have no reason to be jealous. If for you, I'm just a temporary replacement until you can get back to him, then being jealous ain't going to change anything." I answer as I keep looking at the street.

"H, hey. I never said that. Don't put words I never said in my mouth." Saya leans back to a normal position before folding her arms with a frown…

"Takashi wasn't the one who kept looking out for me after this whole thing started…" Saya whispers after a few seconds…

"You honestly believe that I would be here right now? If I wanted to be with him?" Saya asks right after.

"Hey, it wouldn't be the first time that I heard of a girl that started hanging out with a guy to make some other guy jealous." I respond with a slight shrug.

"You. Are a friggin idiot, you know that?" Saya shakes her head as she raises both eyebrows...

"So if one of us started hanging with Takashi. It 'would' make you jealous?" I hear Saeko ask right after…

The fact that the question came from Saeko, really bugged me the wrong way to be honest…

"You can 'hang' with Takashi all you want. Now if you started acting in a way to try and make me jealous on purpose…" I stop for a few seconds, and take a breath.

"I'd probably get up and leave. I'd rather not have the people I trust the most make me suffer on purpose." I add up as I keep looking at the road…

(I just hope Saeko's sadistic nature does not mean she gets turned on by causing emotional harm to the ones she is supposed to care for. Yea, it would really not be fun seeing her trying to make me jealous on purpose, succeeding, and then getting so turned on about it that she actually ends up fucking with Takashi because of it…

Then again, so far I have seen that she likes making people she does 'not' like suffer. As she has yet to try and beat the shit out of me for shits and giggles, or Takashi in the anime. Saya's mansion excluded, we were supposed to be training then, and we were not that close at that moment to begin with…

The worst she had done was throw side jabs at Rei in the manga. Or that she was, smirking? When Rei started shouting at Takashi in front of the Police station. But that could have been because, you know. If Rei's and Takashi's relationship deteriorated in the manga. She could then have him all for herself...)

"So, you'd rather run away than face your problems?" Saya asks.

"Cutting ties with the ones that try to hurt me on purpose 'is' facing my problems." I answer as I glance at Saya...

"I, shouldn't have asked something like that. Forgive me." Saeko leans between the two front seats and turns to look at me before lowering her head slightly.

I chuckle and shake my head.

"Don't apologize, you asked a question. You didn't do anything that calls for an apology. I hope…" I respond in a joking manner as I slow down the car and swerve over an abandoned big rig by climbing on the sidewalk.

"I would rather take my own life, than hurt you on purpose Naier." Saeko answers with a serious tone.

"Umm, yeeaa. Try to do, neither of those two actions please." I turn to glance at Saeko as I take one hand off the wheel and point at the roof with my index finger, before looking back at the street…

(God this chat just took a rather fucked up turn, got to find a new...uhh? Wait, is that?)

"I can see the beach." I say as I point forward.

"Hmm, ohh? You're right." Saya leans forward towards the windshield and pushes her glasses with her hand. Not that the beach was all that hard to see from our location. It was in plain sight, at the end of this road.

"You think we can find the house we stayed at before?" I ask as I keep looking at the road.

"If I remember correctly, it was the only building that had a cement path that led to a small dock by the sea. If we drive by the beach, it should be easier to spot." Saeko answers as she also keeps looking through the windshield.

"Alright, you might want to wear your seatbelts then, we're going off-road." I nod as I press on the gas.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Saya responds as she picks her bag from the back and hugs it.

"Please, I do shit like that all of the time. In Gta V." I answer with a chuckle.

"What?! That's a frigging video game you idiAAHHH!" And, Saya didn't even manage to finish her sentence as the car when flying over the stairs that led to the beach…

(So Gta does exist here, and Saya knows about it, interesting…)

With that stupid though in my mind, the car flew past the stairs and landed on the sand a few seconds later. And with a slide, it came to a stop.

"See, all's good." I tilt my head as I turn to Saya, then switch the right gear to 'N' and then the left gear to 'L', before switching the right one back to 'D'.

"Why, do we let you drive…" Saya groans as she fixes her glasses.

"Actually, that's a good question, want to drive?" I ask as I keep looking at her. Saya just blinks at me like a fish without answering back.

"The beach should be relatively safe to drive, and with the gear to 'L' the car can't go very fast. Or well, it shouldn't go very fast, or we will drain our fuel in no time." I add up. Saya just turns to look at the steering wheel without answering.

"Can I try?" Saeko asks as she pops between the two front seats.

"Sure, come to the front." I nod and turn to look outside my door, no fun getting jumped on by a corpse after all.

I then exit the car and enter the back seats, while Saeko climbs to the driver seat from inside the car.

(I also need one of you to be able to drive this, In case something happens to me. Leaving the car behind is not a debatable option.)

After we switched places I leaned between the two front seats.

"Ok, this car is fully automatic, so it should be relatively easy to handle. The basics you want to know are. Always use one foot when you drive, gas and brake. One foot, the other foot does nothing, the reason being that pressing the gas and breaking at the same time is not very good for the car, and you know, good luck finding replacement parts right now." I say as I point at Saeko's feet.

"Now as for the gears. The left one with L,N,H and HL. Think of it as 'H' for driving on normal roads, L for driving off-road at lower top speeds. Hl is for high speed with poor traction? N is for natural, to disengage, I think…" I say as I point at the stick.

"You think? You actually didn't even 'sound' sure about the Hl gear..." Saya 'asks' as she folds her arms.

"I never drove a four by four before, It's a miracle I remember this stuff to begin with." I respond as I look at Saya.

She groans, shakes her head and opens her bag, then pulls out her notebook. She then opens it and starts flipping through the pages.

"Hl for normal roads with bad traction, H for normal roads, N to disengage the gear and switch to L, L is for off-road at low top speeds. You can switch from HL to H while on move, but need to be stopped to switch from and to L. On the second gear, P is for parking, N is again for disengaging the gears to let the wheels spin freely, D uses all the gears so higher top speeds, D2 uses only the first half, more power, less speed. It's for stuff like climbing hills. R is reverse." Saya keeps reading through her notebook, before lifting her head to me, her eyebrows making a straight line as she looks at me..

"If you had all that in the textbook, why didn't you say so?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"Hum, you didn't ask." Saya replies with a huff as she turns to put the textbook back in her bag.

(...Ohh, I so want to squeeze a chundere right now...)

"O...k. So, overall, leave em as is. Just drive slow and keep your eyes on the speedometer, try to not go over twenty-five or thirty." I say as I shake my head slightly and turn to Saeko, then point at the dashboard.

Saeko nods. And with an overdramatically serious face, while gripping the steering wheel with both hands like it was trying to run off. She lightly presses the gas. The car responds, and starts to slowly move forward.

"Relax Saeko, chopping heads off with a sword is actually harder than this." I say with a chuckle as I put my hand on her shoulder.

"I can't help but feel anxious. It's my first time." She replies as she keeps her eyes glued on the road ahead…

(Your first time... Ok, it's official. Anything remotely sexual coming out of Saeko's mouth. Is giving me the wrong friggin idea...)


	43. Strolling down the beach

**-4 days before extraction-**

"What are these levers for?"

"Tire pressure control."

"These three buttons over here?"

"These are break, wait and CTIS indicators, they are not buttons."

"These speedometers here?"

"Tire pressure."

"This lever?"

"Emergency break."

"But doesn't this car also have a parking break in another lever?"

"Yes, you use both when stopping the car."

(...What am I here for again?)

For the last thirty minutes or so, I haven't opened my mouth, not even once. Saeko on the other hand, is going full auto with the questions. Like an inquiring ten-year-old, with Saya being the one answering them.

( Oh well, at least they seem to be working together now, instead of poking each other.)

I casually look towards the front windshield, at the beach that extended ahead of us.

(Turns out I was right about this being a good place for the car. We already passed a couple of blocked off spots on the road, and dodging corpses in a place this wide is jokingly easy. Though Saeko 'did' run a couple of them over. But judging from her smirk when she did so, I'd say she was pretty much 'trying' to crush them under the wheels.)

I back away from the two front seats and lean against the crates in the trunk, then move my head around as I close my eyes. After a couple of satisfying cracks, I open my eyes and keep staring at the beach ahead...

(Hmm, I could get the hooks ready, as I'm doing nothing right now.)

I nod slightly and grab the fishing lines along with the hook box from the seat to my right.

(Three rolls, let's add one hook on each, no need to cut the roll in parts for now.)

With that, I take off my gloves and start the painstaking process of trying to 'thread the needle' in a moving car…

**-God knows how much time later-**

"Finally." I groan as I leave the third roll next to me and lift my head with a sigh. Saya turns her head to me with a questioning frown after hearing me. She then glances at the rolls…

"You always try to make things hard for yourself on purpose you idiot?" She asks as she raises an eyebrow.

"You know you could have just asked us to slow down and help…" She adds up as she points at the rolls.

"But you two were so synchronized, it was too cute to interrupt." I respond as I chuckle and tilt my head. Saya blinks a couple of times, before pouting slightly...

"Idiot." She says with a low tone before turning to look ahead.

(Jeez, still spamming the idiot button I see. Bad habits die hard I guess)

"Actually Saya, if you already know so much, why don't you try driving as well." I ask as I lean between the two front seats.

"Knowing how something works and using it, are two different things. Why do you want us to learn how to drive this badly anyway? We have you, and when you're not driving into rivers, you're actually a pretty decent driver." Saya answers as she turns to me.

"Because being the only one that's able to drive is…" I stop speaking, and glance at Saya…

"Limiting our available options." I add up after a few seconds.

"Such as?" Saya asks as she folds her arms.

"What if we need to shoot while driving? What if one of you is closer to the car than me and we need to high tail it out of whatever place we might be at? Minor things that seem insignificant now can get us killed if they happen at the wrong moment." I respond as I also fold my arms.

Saya keeps looking at me for a few seconds, before closing her eyes and giving off a heavy sigh as she lowers her head.

"Ughh, I keep forgetting that you're not just an idiot. You're a paranoid idiot." Saya groans as she shakes her head…

"It's clear proof that he cares about us. Or, would you rather prefer it if he acted indifferent if we, if you, were in possible danger?" Saeko then speaks up as she turns her head to Saya.

"I, didn't mean it like that." Saya's eyes go slightly wide as she turns to Saeko…

And after a few seconds of silence...

"...How did I end up being the bad guy here again..." Saya whines as she turns her face to look at the road ahead with a pout.

I was about to speak, when I noticed Saeko becoming focused on the road ahead, more than usual I mean. Leaning her head forward as she narrowed her eyes…

"Naier, look ahead. I think that's…" Saeko keeps staring ahead as she stops speaking…

I lean towards the windshield as I balance myself between the two front seats. In the distance ahead of us, I could see a silver Suv next to a closed gate to the left. And towards the right, towards the sea, I could also see a gray block that was elevated over the water, a small boat lying on it.

"We found it…" I respond in a low tone.

"It would seem so." Saeko adds with a slight nod…

As we kept getting closer, Saya continued to have her eyes glued to the boat...

"Something's not right. I'm pretty sure that we didn't leave that boat outside." She says as she keeps staring at said boat.

"Hmm, keep driving normally." I tap Saeko on the shoulder as I back away, before climbing up the hatch. I then use the gun's scope to look at the building…

One of the windows on the second floor was open, the room's curtains waving from the open window. Other than that, I could not see anything.

(We really need binoculars. But, I am a hundred percent sure. That window was not open. It's in the room that I was in, and I never opened that window.)

I lower myself back inside the car and wear the rifle, before leaving it to hang on my sides.

"It either has people inside now. Or it had people inside after we left." I lean between the two front seats as I keep staring towards the building.

"So, what do we do?" Saya asks as she turns to me.

"The hose should be dry by now, we'll check the Suv while using our car as a shield. After that…" I tilt my head slightly as I keep looking at the building…

"If it 'had' survivors inside, leaving without checking could be a waste, there are still things inside we can use. But they ain't worth risking conflict with other survivors. We would be invading their safe house if they are still there. More than enough reason for them to get agitated" I shake my head as I keep speaking.

"We check the Suv, and we leave." I say after a few seconds.

"Alright, we do this as we are? I am not very confident that I will be able to drive us out quickly if we find opposition." Saeko glances at me as she speaks.

"We need somebody with a gun to keep guard, so either me or you will need to siphon or drive." I respond as I turn to Saeko.

"I will siphon then." She replies without delay.

"So I keep guard?" Saya asks.

"Yea, stay on the hatch, but turn the lid to face the building, use it as a shield, while aiming through the side gaps." I nod as I turn to Saya. She nods back at me with a serious expression.

"Let's switch seats then?" Saeko asks as she stops the car and turns to me. I nod and back away, then sit on the seat behind the driver.

Saeko climbs through the gap of the two front seats before sitting behind Saya. After picking the fishing rolls from that seat obviously. Her behind might be 'top bait' material, but not on 'that' sort of bait. After that, I moved to the driver's seat and started going forward once again…

"If I see a person, what should I do?" Saya asks as she turns to look at the Mp5 that she left by the trunk.

"If they are unarmed, keep an eye on them but don't aim at them. If they are armed, quickly get back inside the car. In both cases, inform me silently if they have not seen you, shout if you see them aiming at us." I answer as I turn to Saya…

(I might be willing to pull the trigger, but Saya never had to kill an actual person. I need to take into account that she might be unwilling to shoot at a crucial moment.)

She nods at me after a few seconds, then leans towards the back to grab the sub-machine gun.

"Ok, like with the gas station, I will park the car next to the Suv's fuel pipe to use as a one side shield. Saeko, keep your head down, take it like a sniper is aiming at you from the house." I glance behind me, towards Saeko as I speak. She nods and turns to pick one empty canister along with the hose, while Saya returned to her seat.

The moment I got close to the Suv, I turn the Humvee towards the sea to my right, then stop, hit reverse, and 'bump' the Humvee's rear left side on the Suv's left back door, creating a 'V' shape with the Suv and the Humvee.

"Ok we finished yesterday. Move." I turned to glance at Saeko, only to see that she had already opened the door behind my seat and was outside by the Suv…

Saya at the same time lifted her upper body through the hatch and turned the lid as I told her. I nodded slightly and glanced at the Suv.

(Huh, the corpses are still in there, the female one at least, the back windows are tinted, but I'd say the kid is still there as well. )

I then start looking around as I lightly tap my foot.

(I can't see the house from here.)

I open my door slightly and turn to glance at Saeko, who was kneeling down with her head hunched down next to the Suv, one side of the hose in the fuel pipe, the other in the canister. I then leaned outside until I could see the whole house that was behind us…

"Naier, I think we will need a second canister as well." Saeko speaks up as she turns to me.

"Do what you must." I nod as I glance at her.

Saeko nods back and returns her focus to the canister. While I turned to look back towards the building.

(Ok, after this, we go straight down the beach. Then take a right turn after we reach the furthest end. And finally, a straight line towards our real target…)

I was about to move back inside the car. When I saw it…

A figure appearing by the window, turning to stare at us, without making any sort of reaction.

"Saya, second-floor open window." I slam the Humvee's door with my hand as I lift my gun and aim towards said figure as I exit the car…

Looking through the scope, I got a better view of the figure. It looked like a high school student. A guy, short blonde hair and a slim figure and a white shirt. He looked like one of these J-pop dudes to be honest.

(He is just, staring at us…)

"Back in the c…"

Before I could finish my sentence. The figure's eyes go wide, He then starts waving his hands like a lunatic.

"AAAHH! Wait! Don't shoot! Don't shoooot!" The figure starts shouting.

(...Huh? Is that guy for real? 'Now' he saw us?)

"Naier. What should we do?" Saeko asks as she glances at me, slightly lowering herself towards the ground.

"Keep siphoning, Saya, keep your head over the hatch, behind the lid, keep an eye on that dude, don't shoot, unless you see him pulling a gun on us." I respond as I take the safety off my gun.

"Wait! Don't go anywhere! I'm not bad! I'm coming downstairs, don't go!" The guy shouts as he disappears from the window.

(Ok, if he pops with a group, I should be able to get the jump on them if they decide to get freaky.)

I switch the gun to full auto as I keep my eyes on the gate. And less than a minute later, the door flies open, the guy coming out of it.

Seeing his full figure now, he was wearing a shirt with the words 'Thriodon' stylishly printed on it, he was wearing sports pants and his hair was about neck length, blond with brown ends, giving away the fact that he had dyed his hair, he also had a piercing from what I could see. He then puts both hands in front of him…

"We are not hostile. Don't shoot, I don't want trouble." He says as he walks towards the gate…

(Is that guys for real? What if 'we' want trouble? How did he survive this long acting like this?)

"God damn it Sho! Are you retarded?! They are armed, they might be hostile!" A new voice comes alive as a new guy comes after him, grabs him by the shoulder and pushes him back.

That one, to be honest looked a tad like Takashi, Spiky black hair, no piercings whatsoever, he was wearing blue jeans and a black shirt, the words 'Thriodon' on it as well. But most importantly, on his right hand, I could see a rather high tech crossbow.

"I don't care how excited you got because you saw a hot chick, we don't know them." He adds up.

(...Well, that explains a lot. Are there more of them?)

I turned to glance at Saya, who was looking at the two guys with one mean-ass frown.

"Are you guys hostile?" The crossbow guy asks right after.

(And here I thought that one was smart…)

"No, we are not. As long as you're not either." I respond.

"See, they're cool, relax bro." The blond one, Sho, adds right after as he shakes his shoulder off the other guy's hand.

"What do you want?" I ask as I keep my finger close to the trigger.

"We have not seen another living human ever since this started, we honestly believed it was just us from how bad things looked." Sho responds.

"It's just the two of you?" The crossbow guy asks.

(Two?...)

I glance at Saeko for a few seconds, then motion her to get up.

"No." I respond as Saeko comes into view.

"Oh, I see…" The crossbow guy responds. And starts staring at Saeko…

(...Really? One guy is drilling holes at Saya, the other is now staring at Saeko? The fuck people.)

"Ohh purple, your favorite color Kuzu." Sho speaks up in a joking manner as he nudges the other guy.

"It's Kuzuma, and shut it." The crossbow guy, aka Kuzuma, responds as he slaps Sho on the back of the head…

(Great, just, great.)

"My turn, are there more of you?" I ask with a slight sigh.

(And if yes, will they start staring at 'me' next?)

"Yes, one more, he is in the bathroom though." Sho responds.

(Me and my big fucking mouth.)

"How did you end up with a working car? We had no luck finding anything that can start since that blast in the sky." Kuzuma asks next.

"Friend of a friend, we got lucky." I answered bluntly.

"I see." Kuzuma gives back a rather lackluster response as he nods slightly.

"Hey, want to come inside? We have some food, we can trade if you want. We survivors need to stick together." Sho almost instantly butts in.

(...You know, the fact that you keep glancing at Saya while saying that, is really making me want to punch something.)

"Naier, what do you want to do." Saeko whispers as she leans her head slightly towards me, her eyes locked on the two guys.

"I barely trust my own shadow if that's what you're wondering." I whisper back.

Saeko nods slightly before leaning away from me.

"Thanks for the offer, but we'll go on." I responded.

"Which way are you going?" Sho asks before we could move.

( God this guy…)

I lift my hand and point towards my right.

"Oh. We came from that way! Maybe we can trade notes!" Sho answers back excitedly.

"Naier, that could actually be helpful, if they really came from the way we are going." Saeko whispers to me. I turn to glance at her.

"You do see that the blond guy that wants us to come over is pretty much drooling over Saya right?" I 'ask'.

"But you will stop him if he tries anything funny, right?" She 'asks' back.

(You just want to see somebody's face getting bashed in, don't you?)

"Saya, what about you?" I ask as I turn to her.

"What?" She also asks as she turns to me.

"We stay and ask for info? Or leave now?" I ask again.

"Uhh, we could use the information. But, you have to keep mister creepy over there away from me…" Saya whispers as she glances at the two guys.

I nod slightly and turn to the guys.

"Fine, let's trade notes." I say as I keep my finger by the trigger.

"Hehe, great. Let me open the g.."

"We are not coming inside, the gate stays closed." I cut Sho off.

"Aww come on, it's dangerous out there. Do we look that untrustworthy?" Sho asks as he dramatically drops his shoulders.

"What about your two? You want to stay outside too?" He then asks as she glances at the two girls.

"His decision is also ours." Saeko responds.

"Ohh, well are you sure you don't want to come inside? We have a map, it will be easier to explain. And talking here like this will make these 'things' gather." He asks again.

"Bring the map outside, we will stay by the other side of the gate, that way we can talk quietly." I respond…

"Ok…" Sho makes a sad frown as he turns to go back inside the house…

"We will drive the car up the gate, just in case." I whisper at the two girls, they both nod at me.

"Saeko, can you drive it up here. I want to keep my hands near the trigger, in case our new 'friends' try something unbecoming of them." I ask, Saeko nods once again, and then enters the car.

She then sits on the driver's seat, switches to R and starts to slowly drive towards the gate. Kuzuma stared at us for a few seconds…

"Why are you bringing the car over?" He asks.

"Don't take it personally, but if you really end up being friendly, you'd be the first people we find that are so. Just safety measures." I respond as I glance at the open window on the second floor. I could see Sho by the window now, looking around the room.

"I understand, but you do realize that all we have is a crossbow. While you have two guns." He says right after.

"I'd act the same way even if all you had was a screwdriver." I answer as we stop by the gate.

"I see. Also, I'd like to apologize for Sho." He adds as he turns to Saya, she responds with her signature frown.

"He was always like that. I think the sole reason he wanted to start a band with us, was so he could become more popular with girls." He takes the bolt off his crossbow as he speaks, but leaves it 'drawn'.

"You had a band?" Saeko, who just exited the car, asks.

"Yea, me Sho and the third guy we mentioned. Haruto." He responds as he runs his finger on the printed letters on his shirt. Just then, Sho comes out from the garage door with the map in his hand.

"Found it!" He waves the map over his head with a smile as he runs up to the gate. Once he was next to it, he turned to Saya, who was still 'behind' the hatch lid.

"You are going to stay up there? Come on, we can't speak like that." He says with a smile.

"You are talking to him, not me. So quit bugging me." Saya responds with a slight glare.

"Aww come on you don't have to be so cold, I just want to…"

"Are we here so we can trade information. Keep it at that, if Saya wants to speak with you, she will." I cut off Sho as I kept staring at him.

"If you want something good to happen to you. You always need to work for it." Sho responds as he points his index finger towards the sky and smiles at me..

(The only 'good' thing that will happen to you if you keep this up, is a butt in the face, and not a butt you're hoping for.)

"You said you came from our right." I say as I point my right arm towards my right.

"Yea, we've marked a couple of roads that are blocked off in our map if you want to head that way." Kuzuma responds, I nod slightly as I turn to Saya.

"You had the map, think you can check it out?" I ask. Saya nods and climbs into the car. Then exits it through the back door, the map and her textbook in her hands.

She then opens the map and hands it to me, before opening her textbook. I take the map while still holding the gun by the handle, with my finger near the trigger.

"I will write any information in the textbook." She adds as she glances at me.

I nod and turn to the guys, to see Sho, once again. Staring at Saya.

"The're, giant…" He says in a low tone as he keeps staring slightly below Saya's neck…

(Ok, I'm seriously going to deck him.)

"You'll meet with a butt you won't like if you keep this up 'buddy'." I hit the gun's stock on the gate as I stared at the blond-haired guy.

Saya glares at Sho for a few seconds, before casually side-stepping, ending up behind me.

"Uhh, sorry, my tongue slipped." He scratches the back of his neck as he chuckles.

(I don't want to know what 'other' things go through your head, because I'll probably shoot you.)

"Then keep your mouth shut, if you think I like having you staring at me like that, well I don't." Saya responds with a glare.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I just haven't seen a girl this pretty for some time…" Sho responds with a slight bow.

"Well too bad for you Romeo, I'm already taken. So focus on what we agreed on and quit staring at me." Saya groans as she turns to look at her textbook while shaking her head.

"Oh…" Sho 'fish stares' at us for a couple of seconds, then nudges Kuzuma with his elbow.

"At least now you have better luck than me, heh." He responds while glancing at Saeko, a smile back on his face.

(Seriously? This guy is like the annoying mascot nobody wants.)

Saeko just raises an eyebrow before glancing at me.

"I think it would be better if we stopped wasting time." I say as I tap on the map…

"Right, so. What exactly you need to know?" Kazuma asks.

I look at the red mark where the mansion should be at, then at the location 'we' should be at.

"From here, to here. Do you know any roads that are blocked off?" I ask as I turn my map to them.

"Hmm…" Sho glances at my map, then looks at his.

"Our map is not that big, but. We do know a couple of roads that are clear." He says as he nods.

"Can I ask why you are going there?" Kazuma asks right after.

"Yea, but I'm telling you now. We don't have space for more people." I respond. He nods at me after a few seconds.

"Based on the information we found inside a police station, there is an extraction happening there in four or three days."

"Hey! That's not fair! First you say that you won't help us, then you say that there's an extraction on the other side of the map?!" Sho shouts the moment I finish my sentence.

"You can blame yourself for drooling over Saya too much, I don't trust you to leave you anywhere near her." I respond.

"But Sho is right, it'll be too hard for us to make it that far on foot…" Kazuma adds.

"And now you want us to let you come along with us?" I keep tapping my finger on the trigger guard as I 'ask'.

"I don't trust you, and having you in the car with us makes it easy for you to get the jump on us." I shake my head as I keep speaking.

"Oh come on man! There is no way we'll make..."

"Not a debatable option." I cut Sho off, both guys turning silent…

"And now I take it you won't tell us which roads are blocked off huh?" I 'ask'.

"You are not willing to help us, why should we help you?" Sho asks as he folds his arms and starts to glare at me.

"What we agreed on was trading information on maps. If you're going to hold your word back, then we have nothing to talk about." I respond as I extend the map towards Saeko without looking at her, she takes it without saying anything.

"Maybe we can work something out, we're really not a threat. We just want to survive, like you do." Kuzuma says as I bring both hands to my Scar-H.

"And after that, you will want to have a say in the decision making. Then you will want a gun. And who knows, maybe your friend over there will get so agitated after getting shut down by Saya that he might resort to less 'gracious' methods of getting near her." I respond as I tilt my head.

"Hey! I would never do something like that!" Sho shouts…

Just as I was about to move, I felt Saya tug my arm. She then brought her face closer to my ear...

"There's somebody on the second floor, by the window. I think they're spying on us. They keep trying to 'hide' every time they notice me looking at them." She whispers.

(The third guy? Yea, fuck this.)

"Saya, bring me a water bottle from the car please, Saeko can you check the fishing lines?" I ask as I glance at them.

Saya nods as Saeko tilts her head questionably. Saya then pulls Saeko's arm and motions her to follow her, Saeko nodding and following behind her.

"You know, when saying that you are no threat to somebody…" I take a few steps back as I speak. Glancing at the girls as they enter the car.

"Don't have your third guy spying on the opposition, it's a real dick move." I say as I stop next to the back door, and place my hand on the handle. Kuzuma's calm face, almost instantly distorts to a snarl.

"Haruto! Sic 'em! Kill the guy first!" He shouts as he quickly puts the arrow back into the crossbow. At the same time, I open the door as I take a step back.

"Stay in the car!" I shout.

The arrow that Kuzuma placed on the crossbow goes flying, hitting flat on the door. I then swiftly go to prone position, as there was a relatively wide space between the open door and the concrete floor under it, and look through Scar's scope.

Kuzuma was pulling the crossbow back, while holding another bolt in his hand, Sho had already pulled a handgun and was aiming between me and the humvee's roof, a rather freaky smile on his face…

His target switching, was his first, and last mistake. One single pull of the trigger, and he ended with his back on the ground as a burst of bullets impacted his chest and face.

I then quickly turned my aim to Kuzuma, who had just finished pulling the crossbow string back. Another pull of the trigger, and Kuzuma dry fires the crossbow as he also falls on his back.

Before I could aim towards the window, I heard two gunshots echo from the house. Reflexively, I roll under the Humvee.

"You killed them! You fucking killed them! You motherfucker!" I heard a new voice scream as three more shots echoed.

"I'm going to fucking kill you! You and your fucking sluts!" He screams again.

"What?!" I hear Saya scream back.

"Saya stay in the car and don't do anything stupid!" I shout as I slowly crawl towards the back of the car.

"He called me a slut!" Saya shouts back as one more shot echoed.

(God, this girl has no sense of danger? He is shooting at us, and that's what bothers her?)

Upon reaching the end of the car, I look as high as can through the scope, while I switch it to semi-auto.

(Too high, I can't see him.)

With the gun still aimed, I crawled slightly forward, until I had the window in view.

(Where is he?)

I keep my gun aimed at the window as I focus for any movement in my field of vision…

And a few seconds later, Haruto appears through the window, aiming what seemed to be a revolver. His eyes quickly turned to notice me. Shame for him though, I was already aiming at him. A single shot through the head, and he disappeared under the window...

And with that, there was nothing. Just, silence…

I take a deep breath, and then exhale…

"Fucking hell..." I groan as I keep aiming towards the house.

"Are you two alright?" I ask with a loud voice.

"Yea! Are you ok?" I hear a female voice answer.

"Yes. Just don't move the car, or you'll be the ones that end up killing me. And toss me a walkie talkie next to the car." I answer back.

A few seconds later, I see a small item fall to my right, next to the car. I crawl up to it and grab it.

"Ok, I don't know if there are more inside. They did say three, but they did also just try to shoot us." I say as I press the talk button.

"What do you want us to do?" I hear a female voice ask.

"First, check that both of you are actually alright. After that, we'll search the house." I respond.

"Ok." The radio answers and goes silent.

After a few minutes of looking at the house, I crawl out of the humvee and turn to the girls. Saeko was looking towards the house with a serious expression. Saya was with her eyes closed, taking deep breaths.

Using the already open door that now had an arrow sticking out it, I enter the car, then place my hand on Saya's shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" I ask. Saya sighs and lifts her head, then turns to me.

"Between that garbage breather calling me a slut, and the fact that we just killed three people…" She stops talking and takes a deep breath and closes her eyes again.

"I'm fine..." She says as she opens her eyes.

"I know there was no other way around this, if they didn't kill us, then they would have captured us. And that, would honestly have been even worse than getting killed." Saya responds as she keeps looking at the seat ahead of her.

"You want to stay by the car?" I ask as I gently pat her shoulder. She shakes her head and grabs the Mp5 next to her.

"No, I'm fine." She responds as she turns to me with a now determined face. I nod and turn to Saeko.

"You're ready?" I ask again, Saeko nods back in silence.

"Ok, let's go. Stay focused." I nod slightly as I exit the car.

"And most important…" I turn to look at the two girls as they also exit the car.

"No hesitation. I know it sounds cruel, but these guys didn't take long to skip into trigger pulling. If one of you feels that they might end up second thinking or freezing, then stay behind me." I glance at both girls as I keep speaking.

(Obviously I was talking to Saya, but pointing my finger at her will end up being counterproductive.)

With that, I turn to the gate and raise the Scar-H. After closing in, I pass my hand through the metal bars and unlock it. Then, with a light kick, I open it completely. Raising the gun once again, I carefully move to the two unmoving bodies.

I fist kicked away the handgun that was next to Sho, then lightly kicked his sides two times, before throwing a third, stronger kick.

(That's for staring at Saya's chest)

I then glanced at the map that was on the ground next to him.

(Not a single marking on it, no wonder they didn't tell us shit. They didn't know shit...)

Turning around, I check Kuzuma's body with the same method…

(As dead as the other guy...Hmm?)

Running my eyes over the dead body, I notice a leather knife sheath on his thigh. I kneel down and take the sheath in my hand to get a better look at it. It was empty, but obviously, that's not what interested me.

I take off my bag, open it, and pull out my own combat knife, then insert it in the sheath on Kuzuma's thigh, before passing the buttoned strap that was hanging on the sheth over the knife's handle, and then push the 'button' on the strap against the stud that was now underneath it. Upon hearing a 'click' sound, I try to pull the now firmly placed knife, with no success.

"I'll be taking that." I whisper as I undo the straps around his thigh, then take and wrap the sheath around my own left thigh.

"How can you stay so calm…" Saya whispers behind me.

"I've been looting corpses since nineteen nighty-eight." I respond flatly as I keep looking at the dead guy. A few seconds later, I turned my head to see both girls staring at me…

"In video games?" I add as I make a one-sided wry smile behind my mask..

"Ughh. Why do I keep taking you seriously?" Saya huffs as she glances away.

"Because giving obviously stupid answers in emotionally heavy situations can lighten the load. Or get us all killed." I respond as I get up, causing Saya to look back at me, then at the two dead guys…

"I said I'm fine, you don't have to hold my hand every step of the way." Saya responds as she turns to look away again…

"I wouldn't mind if you held 'my' hand more though..." Saeko adds right after with a slight smile.

"So you can Aikido me through the air and drag my face across the beach?" I ask as I motion both girls to follow me with my head, then turn around and raise my gun again, aiming towards the open garage door.

"I would never do something like that to you..." Saeko answers as she starts walking behind me.

"Except, if you wanted me to..." She adds right after…

"Yea, no thanks. Doesn't sound very pleasant…" I respond as I walk into the garage, quickly scanning the room in a sweeping motion from corner to corner.

(No matter how much I like you my dear Saeko, last thing I'm letting you do, is pull some dominatrix shit on me.)

I turn to my left and look at the door that led to the living room, then make a fist with my hand and raise it.

"Ok, no more talking until we make sure the whole building is clear." I say without turning to look behind me, then grip the Scar-H with both hands.

(I fired about seven shots, still have enough left to 'persuade' somebody to 'stop' any hostile actions. The back is clear of corpses, but God knows I don't want to see the road in front of the building right now.)

As I reach the door to my left, I grab and slightly turn the knob, then stop...

(... I really want to go commando and kick the door in, but I should take this as if there are armed, hostile survivors inside, kicking the door in will give away the fact that we are going in. )

With that I lightly pushed the door, aiming at the next room as the door slowly opened. Once there was enough space for me to pass, I stop by the door's frame and check the room's right corner, then enter the room as I turn to my left, checking the left corner, before doing a final sweep of the visible part of the room.

(Kitchen's not visible, the counter like wall is blocking my view.)

I walk past the giant table that was in the middle and stop by the kitchen's entrance.

(Clear.)

I nod slightly and turn around, slightly lowering the gun. My eyes stopping on the giant living room table. Three big sized hiking bags on the table, seemingly packed to the brim. I raise my hand to get the attention of the girls, who were still by the doorframe. Then point at the hiking backpacks. Both of them nod, and silently move towards the table.

(Next, the room with the books.)

I turn to my left and walk up the door on the left wall, and slowly open it. As this door opened towards the right, I first swept the whole room to my left before checking the corner behind the door.

(Clear, and untouched, first-floor bathroom next.)

With the gun still aimed, I walk to the end of the room to my left, towards the door that led to the bathroom. And once again, I open the door and check the room from corner to corner. And, nothing.

(Ok, second floor.)

I nod and turn to leave the bathroom…

(The trio in the house 'acted' as if they wanted to come with us. But I don't know if they were just aiming to kill or capture us the moment we got close. If it's the later, there is a chance that they might have more people that are not here right now, I need to make sure we won't get jumped on from the outside as well.)

With that thought, I exited the room and turned to the girls, who were now unloading the backpacks on the table. I then glance at the windows around the room.

"Saeko, Saya. Close the curtains, and close the garage door we used." I speak up as I turn to look towards the stairs that went upstairs.

"Why?" Saya plainly asks.

"We don't know if they have more 'friends' that are out on a scavenging run. You don't want them to see you before you see or hear them. Also, we fired shots, a lot of them. Corpses will be all over this house. The beach might be clear, but let's not make obviously stupid decisions. We'll use dynamite to change their direction after we make sure the place is clear." I respond. Saeko nods and moves to close the curtains to the left part of the room, Saya going towards the right shortly after.

"Don't forget the garage door, I'm going to the second floor." I add up as I start climbing the stairs…

Once on the second floor, I look around me. The door straight ahead, to the second bathroom, was open. The door further in and to the left, where I stayed before, was also open. That's where the third guy should be in as well. The door opposite of that room was closed. The left door that was next to me was slightly ajar, while the right door next to me was also closed.

I start by silently going to 'my' room. Before even entering it, I noticed a rather big pool of blood on the wooden floor, next to the bed. Going inside, I meet the third, and hopefully final member of the 'crew'. The third eye in his forehead telling me that he ain't getting back up any time soon. What was weird though was…

(Redshirt with the same letters printed on it. The question is, why is he not wearing any damn pants?)

I shake my head slightly before taking the revolver that was next to him, then scan the rest of the room while staying kneeled down.

(Clear.)

As I get up, I notice a second weird thing about him. But this time, it was something he 'was' wearing. A thin, flimsy-looking chain with a rather small silver key around his neck. I tilt my head as I take the key, and with a swift pull, rip it out of the chain. I stare at the key for a couple of seconds before pocketing it, then getting up.

(I will wonder where this goes after I cleared the house.)

I nod slightly and move back to the main hallway.

(Bathroom next)

Just as I started to move towards the bathroom to my left, I heard a door behind me creak. Turning around, I see the door to the far right half-open…

(This door was slightly ajar, right?)

I lift the gun and walk up to the door…

(God, I feel like one of them fodder soldiers in zombie movies…)

Shaking my head I nudged the door open completely with the gun's muzzle, then stopped by the doorframe and checked the room's insides. Other than the bed being a freaking mess and a bunch of clothes on the floor, I saw nothing weird. Going inside I check behind the door, then under the bed, and finally in the closet…

(Can't get more paranoid than this...)

I close the closet and turn to leave the room, kicking a pair of pants as I walk out.

After that, I went straight ahead, to the first actual closed door in the hallway.

Upon turning the knob, the door opened without resistance. The room inside looked untouched. A neatly folded bed to my right, a cupboard with a mirror and several female accessories on the wall next to me on my left, and finally, a desk straight ahead of me.

After a quick sweep of the room, I found it to be what I expected to be, empty. So after exiting that room, I went to check the last door in the hallway…

(Should be fine, but better to make sure. After that, the bathroom. Then I'll go down and check our next step with Saya and Saeko.)

I place my hand on the knob, turn it, and give it a push. But the door didn't budge…

(Locked?)

I raise an eyebrow as I look at the door, then pull out the key I got from the dead body and glance at it.

(Too small to fit, no way it's the correct one.)

I tap on the gun's barrel as I take a better look at the door.

(Can't see door hinges, so it's a 'push' door. Uhh, what was that I said about kicking doors? Kick near the handle? Yea, pretty sure that's what I said.)

I grip the assault rifle as I take, and let go of the breath. Then raise my leg, and with a strong stomp. I send the door flying open. Not wasting time, I go up to the doorframe, couch down and aim inside the room…

"Uhh, the fuck?" I whisper as I keep my aim towards the bed, or more exactly, the girl that was lying on it…

(She's not moving, and I just kicked the damn door in, she's dead?...)

I silently move inside the room, check it from corner to corner, then turn my aim back to the unmoving girl on the bed.

Getting a better look at her, I could see that she had medium length, curly brown hair. The type you'd expect to see paired up with a set of giant, thin-framed, round glasses. Her clothes were, in pretty bad shape. To be exact, they were ripped to the point that I could not really make out 'what' she was wearing, also meaning, that most of her body was exposed. She also had a couple of visible red 'bite' marks on her. And not the corpse type ones. And lastly...one of her hands was handcuffed to the bed frame, the other was under the pillow that was under her head…

(Either she was one of the group and she liked getting really freaky. Or she was 'not' one of the group and I just did the world a favor by shooting these three dudes.)

I move a bit closer to the girl, going towards the left side of the bed, as it was the side she was facing.

(Her chest is not moving…)

Looking at her face, her eyes closed. I could now see several actual bruises on it…

(I know I'm supposed to be a cold-hearted bastard. But fucking hell. I wish I didn't kill these three fucks right now. Because if they really did what I think they did to this girl. Then, I didn't make them suffer enough...)

I take a step back from the girl's body and let out a slight sigh, then take out the small key from my pocket and look at it.

(The handcuff key huh…)

I shake my head and leave the key on the counter next to the bed. Before glancing back at the girl. Only to now see her eyes half-open, staring towards me. The moment I saw her, I jumped back, hitting my back against the wall.

"AAAAGGHHH!" The supposed to be dead girl lets out a loud scream as she springs back to life, taking a wild swing with the arm she had hidden under her pillow, revealing a combat knife in her hand after going for a full swing. That thankfully missed me…

Her eyes then dart to the key I left on the counter. She quickly brings her hand down on the key with a loud slap, the knife still in her hand. She then somehow manages to grab the key with the tip of her fingers before bringing it to the handcuff.

Sadly, the way she was holding the key proved to be a bit 'too' unorthodox, as instead of inserting it to the cuff's keyhole, it bumped it against the cuffs themselves, causing it to slip from her fingers and disappear in the gap between the wall and the bed…

"NO, NONONO!" The girl screams again as she starts tearing up, her scream being a mixture of crying and anger as she tries to catch the key in vain.

Before I could react, she turned her head back to me. And started throwing everything she could find around her towards me, Including the knife. That again missed me for a good one meter. A pillow did land straight to my face though…

After she ran out of things to toss, she crawled up to the other side of the bed…

"Naier!" And just on cue, Saeko bursts into the room, and stops flat by the door frame, Saya almost bumping behind her.

"I found a survivor?" I say as I turn to the two girls...

The girl on the bed turns to look at Saya and Saeko, her expression changing into a perplexed one...

"You, you are not one of them?" She asks as she turns to me...

(...Ok, while it seems obvious that she was held here against her will. She also definitely heard the gunshots, if she figured out that the guys are dead, she would try to act like a victim to increase her chances with us. So, one last check…

God, what is wrong with me? She is bruised, beat and chained. Yet I can't bring myself to trust her...)

"No, obviously I'm not you dofus." I respond, then turn to Saeko and Saya, who just stared back at me.

"We are new members, Sho sent me here. He said 'my' reward for becoming part of the group is here..." I respond as I keep staring at the two girls, Saya's face almost falling off as she arched an eyebrow, her mouth wide open.

"Wha!Gfrrll!" Before Saya could say anything. Saeko puts her hand over her mouth, causing Saya to dart her head towards Saeko with a glare.

"Let's go. This is not a place we should be at right now." Saeko responds as she drags Saya out of the room, closing the door behind her.

(I hope you figured what I'm actually trying to do here...)

Turning my head back to the girl, I could now see tears running down her face...

"Please, don't do this. I'm, sorry I attacked you. I, I can't take it anymore..." She said with slight sobs, trying to crawl even further away from me as she shook her head, not that she could make any distance. As the hand that was cuffed to the bed was already fully extended.

"These people, they are evil. I didn't do anything to anybody in order to deserve this..." The girl whispers as she lowers her head.

"Please..." She then lifts her head back at me, tears still running down her cheeks.

"Please..."

(I know I keep telling myself that I need to be 'absolutely' sure that she was captured. But I feel horrible just looking at her...and if she's that good of a faker then...ughh. No, stop. Just help the damn girl you fucking paranoid lunatic...)

"Why? I thought you hated that trio." I responded, the girl just looked back at me with a blank expression.

"I mean, If you want me to kill you so you can meet them again, then sure. Though I don't think you'll be going to the same place as them. The underworld has a special spot for, uhhh..." I stop talking and lower my head...

"Give me one second." I add as I raise my finger and turn to walk towards the door, the girl staring at me without speaking. Opening the door, I find Saya and Saeko looking at me.

"Saya, how did you call the guy in that room again?" I ask as I point ahead.

"What?" Saya asks as she tilts her head with a frown...

"Uhh, Oh, Garbage breather. Thank you." I respond as I close the door again without waiting for a reply.

"Sorry about that." I say as I walk back to the girl.

"The word I was looking for..." I kneel under the bed and pick up the key as I speak.

"Was garbage breather." I respond as I get up and toss the key on the bed next to her.

The girl looks at the key, then back at me. But does not move...

(Now 'she' is the one that does not believe me. Not that I'm surprised.)

"Uhh, give me a sec." I say as I walk up to the door again, then open it and walk outside.

"Can you believe that she did not believe me when I said that I'm not an evil guy?" I say as I walk past the girls, who just followed me with their heads. Until I entered the room with the third dead dude. I walk up to the guy and grab him by the leg.

"Now I know why you were not wearing pants. And I got to say. I wish I could wrap your nerves around a twig-like spaghetti, then make you chew them while they were still connected to your body..." I growl in a low tone as I drag the body out of the room, a trail of blood following behind me.

"Do I look like an evil overlord or something?" I 'ask' as I pass by Saya and Saeko. Who by now, were just staring at me without speaking...

After entering the room with the girl, I drag the dead body inside, and close the door again. Then bring it near the lower part of the bed and leave it there. Turning to the girl, I saw that the key was still where I left it...

"The other two are by the back exit, so please don't tell me to bring them as well. Also, a good number of shots were fired, so corpses are probably going apeshit outside. Though your screaming might have been louder than the gunshots." I say as I fold my arms.

"He, he's dead?" She asks with a meek voice…

"Dono, let's check." I respond as I go to his legs, spread them, take a step back, and deliver a strong kick. That honestly, made me hurt as well. All the time, the girl just stared, her eyes going slightly wide as the kick connected...

"Now, either he got balls of steel, or he got no balls at all. Take a guess." I respond as I 'clean' the tip of my boot on the guy's shirt.

The girl glances at me, before slowly taking the key, finally unlocking the handcuff. After massaging her wrist for a few seconds, she closes her eyes and 'hiccups' a couple of times as she brings her hands to her face, before starting to cry again.

…And she kept crying for a few minutes…Until, she finally calmed down enough to stop. After rubbing her eyes, she turned her head to the dead body, and started staring at it with a vacant look.

"I'm going to bring you some clothes…" I say as I glance at the knife she threw at me a couple of minutes ago. Then head to it and pick it up, before turning towards the door…

"Thank you…" I hear the girl softly whisper.

"Don't. We're not out of the woods yet." I respond as I glance behind me, then head out of the room…

(I just hope you know how to survive by yourself. Because saving you from 'these' three fruits, and taking you with me, are two different things...)


	44. Hitomi

-4 days before extraction-

(Huh, I expected more of you creeps to be clogged up here to be honest.)

I flip the dynamite I have in my hand in the air, then let it land back on my hand. All the while I was staring at the corpses behind the front gate.

(Well, matters not. Go bark up another tree.)

I light the dynamite's fuse, take a step forward, and toss the red stick. Which flies in an ark over the gate, and lands near the opposite house's yard. I nod, turn around, and start walking towards the front door. And as I entered the building, a loud explosion echoed behind me. Causing the girl we found earlier to jump on her seat as she darted her head towards me, or well, the open door. She was now wearing a pair of blue jeans and a brown long-sleeved shirt that had a wide 'V' cut on the collar. On top of that, she had a bedsheet that she had wrapped around her, sitting in the right corner of the giant table, still deathly quiet. Not that I blame her, we did manage to find one thing though, her name. Hitomi.

Saeko and Saya were also sitting by the giant living room table. Saya on the opposite side, facing me. While Saeko was sitting on 'my' side of the table and had her back turned to me.

(At least she was willing to eat something, even if it was just snack food. That trio had quite the stash in their bags, in terms of snack food and water. Other than that, we also found a pair of binoculars in there. Along with a second combat knife and a sheath, both of which I gave to Saya. Though with that school skirt, you couldn't really tell if she is wearing it or not. Now, we also found a couple of bullets that fit our handguns and Saya's Mp5, along with the revolver I picked earlier, and the handgun. We also have two crossbows now, and a bunch of actual bolts. The other stuff in the bags were sleeping bags, can openers, duct tapes, ropes, clothes, that I would never wear, and some non-functioning electronics, like phones, cameras and, uhh. One set of night vision goggles, non-functioning sadly.)

"I'm going upstairs to get some stuff. We could use some actual pillows for the sleeping bags after all." I speak up as I turn to walk towards the second floor.

"Can you get some shampoo as well?" Saya asks as I start walking. I nod as I glance at her, then keep going up the stairs…

(Hopefully, the girls can get Hitomi to open up while there isn't a 'guy' around them..)

After climbing the stairs, I first move to the untouched right room, and head straight to the bed. Τhen take the two pillows from there. After that, I went to 'my' room, as it was the second least messed up room. And take the two pillows from there as well. Stuffing them all under my arm, I then went to the bathroom for a couple of shampoo bottles.

(Ok, that should do it, let's go.)

With the 'loot' now acquired, I make my way back downstairs. To find the girls still as quiet as ever. Without speaking, I headed towards the garage. Where we now had the Humvee parked at. After entering the room and reaching the car, I opened its back door, and stopped.

"Uhh, can one of you help me with this?" I ask with a loud voice.

"What is it?" Saya asks after also entering the garage, closing the door behind her.

"Can't leave the pillows on the car's floor, can you open Saeko's bag? Since she doesn't use it, we can put the pillows in there as they ain't too fluffy." I respond as I leave the shampoos on the seat in front of me, take a step back, and turn to her.

"Yea, alright." She nods and casually enters the car, going on all fours…

(Saya, you do realize you are wearing a short skirt, right? Oh well, not complaining about the view here, signature blue with white stripes it is...or is it white with blue stripes?...)

Saya then sits in the middle of the car and turns around, extending her arm while grabbing Saeko's bag with the other.

"Give me one." She says as she glances at the pillows, then back at me. I nod and give her one of the pillows. Yet, as she tries to put it in the bag, she stops and tilts her head. She then pulls out a wooden box from the bag.

"What is this? She asks as she casually opens the top cover. Inside, a sword cleaning kit, along with a sharpening slab.

"Sword maintenance tools. Also, remind me to never give you my bag." I respond, causing Saya to turn her head to me with a questioning look.

(She's seriously wondering why I just said that?)

"You do realize you just opened Saeko's bag and started fiddling with her stuff right?" I 'ask'. Saya blinks a couple of times...

"Uhh. Right, sorry." She responds as she closes the box and proceeds to stuff the pillow in the bag. Then extends her arm to me again.

(Why are you apologizing to me?)

"Hey, umm. Are we going to take Hitomi with us?" She asks as I give her another pillow.

"I don't know. What she's been through was horrible…" I stop talking and let out a slight sigh.

"But picking every lost soul we find, can turn sour for us faster than you think." I respond as I hand her another pillow.

"So saving Alice was a fluke?" Saya asks again.

"Saving Alice was a decision made with Takashi on the wheel. There's also the difference that Alice wouldn't have survived had we not intervened. While I'm willing to spare some resources to help the girl, taking her along with us is…" I stop talking, as I give her another pillow.

"You know that the only ones I really care for, are you and Saeko." I add, causing Saya to stop and turn to look at me.

"You must have also realized by now, that the way I'm doing things, and the way Takashi did things. Are a bit 'different'. To the point that last time we were here, I nearly got kicked out." I continue speaking…

"Ughh, don't remind me…" Saya groans slightly as she turns to put the pillow in the bag.

(Well the mood is turning sour, fast. Time to throw a wrench in the works.)

"Why? Reminds you of how you fell asleep and ended up on 'my' side of the bed?" I 'ask' as I hand her the last pillow. Saya takes it, and freezes with her arm still extended towards me.

"Y,you still remember that?" She asks as her face starts to slightly blush.

"What do you mean 'still'. I'll forget my name before forgetting 'that'." I respond with a slight chuckle, and end up with the pillow she was holding to my face.

"S,shut up. You're changing the subject." Saya says with a slight pout as she 'glares' at me.

"Sorry." I respond with a chuckle as I give her the pillow back.

"I ain't a knight in shining armor like Takashi after all." I add. Saya just turns to look at the bag, turning her head away from me.

"Thank…that. Last thing...need is more competition...Saeko's enough..." Saya whispers without turning to me…

"What?" I 'ask' as I tilt my head.

"I said, Thank god for that. One Takashi is enough, I don't want to have to deal with two of them." Saya 'answers' as she turns to me with a frown.

"Oh, because I'm pretty sure I heard something about Saeko, and competition..." I respond with a slight grin. Saya 'blank stares' at me for a couple of seconds...

"You're hearing things." She responds with a rather calm demeanor as she turns to look at the bag in her hands.

(Ohh, no blushing stutter fest? Saya's evolving...)

"No matter the case, I don't intend to make this decision behind her back. We'll chat about what we'll do after she gets her bearings together, along with you and Saeko…" I say I point at the shampoos.

"Yea, that would be for the best." Saya nods as she takes the bottles and places them at a corner inside the trunk. Then exits the car and stands up next to me.

"Let's go?" I ask as I tilt my head, she nods and starts walking towards the main room.

Upon entering said room, we all sit by the table. Saeko next to me to my left, Saya sitting ahead of me on the opposite side of the table. Hitomi to my right, two seats away.

(Ok, as much as I don't want to seem like an ass about our new guest, we have things to do...)

"Ok, I'm going to be insensitive here, but I need to ask you. Did these three have any more in their group?" I ask as I look at Hitomi. She turns her head and stares at me for a couple of seconds. Then shakes her head.

"No…" She responds in a low tone.

"Ok, so we should not expect more of them to come out of the woodworks." I nod slightly, then turn to Saeko.

"Found anything of worth other than the things we already know of?" I ask once again.

"I found these, other than that. I'm afraid nothing new" Saeko responds as she shows me two 'hands-free' flashlights.

"Ohh, nice. I needed one of these." I nod as I take one of the flashlights. It looked like a normal handheld one, but it curved forward in the end. Making it look like a mini cane. After checking that it works, I shove it in the vest's left chest pocket. The whole flashlight fitting inside, with only the 'light bulb' sticking outside.

"Ok, so…" With that done, I glance at Saeko and Saya, then turn to the girl...

"What's our next move?" I ask as I turn back to Saeko and Saya. They both look at each other for a few seconds, before turning to me. Throwing the occasional glance towards the third girl…

(Jeez, make me the bad guy here don'cha.)

I turn to look towards Hitomi, who just lifts her head to stare back at me, still as silent as ever.

(Well, here goes nothing. Let's see if we can make her 'speak' for starters)

"Uhh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to…" I stop speaking and fold my arms.

"But how the hell did you end up as you did?" I ask. Hitomi stares at me for a few seconds, then looks away.

"Boat." She 'answers'. Causing me to tilt my head with a questioning frown. Not that she could see it.

"I saw a small boat with a lot of people on it. In the sea, two days ago..." She adds a few seconds later…

(...Two days ago? I have a bad feeling about this...)

"And the boat was the one by the small cement dock near this house?" I ask, Hitomi just nods back…

(...Well, fuck me. Two days ago, 'we' were on the island. She saw us on our way back?)

"I followed the boat and…" Hitomi tightens the sheet around her as she starts speaking again.

"On the way, I found 'these' guys. They had seen the boat as well and were following it as well. We decided to go together, as we were going the same direction. But by the time we found the boat, it was abandoned. Seeing that this house was connected to where the boat was left, we decided to check it. But we found the house to be empty as well. The three then decided that it would be better if we waited for the ones with the boat to come back, as the house was secured..." Hitomi lets out a small sigh as she stops speaking…

(Wait, secured? I'm pretty damn sure we left the front fucking door wide open. If they said that to her. Then they 'knew' we were not coming back. They planned ahead in order to isolate her in the house?)

"They, were really friendly to me in the beginning. And everything seemed to be going fine, up to the moment when it got dark. Where we decided that it was too dangerous for us to leave. One of the guys said that he will stay up in case the other group comes back, while the rest of us went to sleep...but, just as I went to sleep...they...they" Hitomi starts slowing down, lowering her head, before she stops speaking completely.

"That's enough…" I say as I nod slightly…

(These guys had this going for two full nights and one day. Fucking hell, I really didn't make them suffer enough. Even if she was way too gullible, that does not excuse them.)

"Are you going to leave?" Hitomi asks right after.

"Yes, we know of an extraction point, in the center of this landmass." I respond flatly.

After that, there was a short silence. Until Hitomi got up, and went up the stairs. And then, silence once again.

"What do you intend to do?" Saeko asks after it was just the three of us at the table.

"I don't know…" I answer with a slight groan.

"Whatever you decide. I will be fine with it..." Saeko responds with a slight smile.

(That's, actually kind of brutal…)

"You think she can survive on her own? Even if she's less trusting of strangers now. She just, looks a bit…" Saya stops talking before she could end her sentence, as we heard footsteps by the stairs..

"Excuse me…" Just then, Hitomi walked down the stairs and speaks up. Causing us to turn towards her…

"I'll pay you, to take me to that extraction with you…" She says as she extends both arms towards us. Holding what I'm pretty sure, is a Katana…

I reflexively look towards Saeko, to see that she still had her own sword by her side, then turn back to Hitomi…

"Uhh. This belonged to?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"The one that had the crossbow, I overheard him say that he hid it inside the unused bed, between the mattress and the planks..." Hitomi explains as she walks up to the table, and leaves the sheathed sword on it.

"I'm going to give it to you, if you'll take me with you…" She adds right after…

"Aren't you being a bit too naive, what if we just take the sword now and leave without you?" Saya 'asks'.

"Would it make any difference if I didn't bring it? You could just lie to me, then throw me out after you had what you wanted from me…" Hitomi responds as she keeps looking at the sword.

"Why risk trusting us? You do realize that I killed these three, before I actually found out what they did to you." I add as I fold my arms…

"What other choice do I have? I can't fight, I won't make it on foot…" Hitomi says as she lowers her head...

"If you wanted to hurt me, you could have done so while I was still tied…" She adds as she lifts her head to look at me.

(Uhh, well. I 'could' use a sword, the bokken is nice and all but…)

"Saeko, mind if you check the blade for me, I trust you more than me when it comes to swords." I say as I turn to Saeko, who nods and gets up from her seat. Then walks up to the blade, stopping next to Hitomi.

"May I?" She asks as she turns to the girl. Hitomi nods and takes a couple of steps back. Saeko then takes the blade, and draws it.

She brings the tsuba close to one of her eyes as she closes the other. Pointing the blade straight ahead of her as she looks at the slightly curved sword. Then, she looks at the blade's handle...

"This is a Shin-gunto. As it's handle is made out of aluminum and it has no actual hand wrap. The pattern on the handle is in truth embossed on the aluminum. This type of sword was used by Japan during the nineteen-thirties and later on. Including in the Second world war. The blade looks, pretty well kept. A bit, too well kept. And as the swords created during the Second world war were actually of pretty low quality due to the limited resources. They either managed to find a sword that's over eighty to ninety years old, yet still in pristine condition. Or, it was forged recently, as an imitation." Saeko turns to me as she finishes explaining.

"Can it cut anything? Or it's going to be a clunkier bokken?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"It's viable as a blade. It might, need some maintenance…" She answers as she turns to look at the blade.

"But I can take care of that. And, if you want. I could give you some lessons on how to use it effectively." She adds as she turns to look at me with a smile.

"Yea, that would be a good idea. Or it I'll probably end up with a 'serrated' upgrade, what with all the chips it will end up having. Because I have no idea how to use a long blade." I respond with a nod.

(Most of my training before the outbreak was with knives or short blades. And what actual sword training I had did not include stuff like maintenance for real swords, or what can actually damage a blade, like swinging at a rock for example.)

"So, uhh. Hitomi, just don't expect to get the best part of the cut during your stay with us." I add as I turn to Hitomi.

"Thank you." She almost instantly responds as she bows...

"As I said, don't thank me yet..." I say as I turn around.

"Ok, so. You got the map?" I ask as I look at Saya.

"One sec." She responds as she gets up and goes to our bags, which were on the couch behind her. The same couch where I found out that Saeko indeed does, drool…

Without thinking, I turn to Saeko. To see her staring at the couch as well. After a few seconds, she also turns to glance at me. And, seeing how she ended up with a slight blush as she lowered her head and focused back at the blade in her hands. I'd say she was thinking of the same thing.

(She had the guts to walk up to me half-naked, and tell me that she's, 'willing to give me everything she is'. Yet now she's blushing over the couch? Then again, maybe she's embarrassed because she drooled on me there, rather than the fact that she slept on me…)

Saya, after fiddling with her bag, took the map out of it and then sat on the table opposite of me. I just kept staring at her as she lifted her head to look at me. After blinking a couple of times, she started glancing around…

"W,what are you staring at me for…" She whines as she keeps glancing around.

"Well, I can't see the map sooo…" I respond with a slight shrug.

"Then got over here you idiot." She groans as she folds her arms, still looking away.

I laugh lightly under my breath as I get up, motioning Saeko to also sit next to Saya. And like that, we ended with Saya to my left, and Saeko next to Saya. The map being in front of the pinkette. I glance at said map for a few seconds, then scratch the back of my neck.

"Without any real information on the roads ahead. Best we can do is keep straight on the beach, until we reach the road that's a straight line to the mansion…" I stop talking, and fold my arms on the table as I lean on it.

"Fat chance that we'll be so lucky though. For the road to stay drivable from start to finish." I add as I keep looking at the map.

"Corpses won't be a real problem, we have dynamite. As long as the road is not blocked by cars, we should be able to go forward." Saya adds as she also keeps looking at the map.

"What about the river?" Saeko asks.

"Uhh, even if the tide is low for the Humvee to drive up the stream, we won't be able to drive 'out' of the river. The walls are too high." I respond as I shake my head slightly. Saeko just nods back at me.

As I turn my head back towards the map, I spot Hitomi standing by the stairs, looking at us in silence…

"Hitomi, you know you don't need to stand there like a prisoner right? Except if you want to be a bouncer or something." I arch an eyebrow as I look at the girl.

"S,sorry." She responds with a slight bow, then lifts her head, and stays in place. Slightly lowering her head as he glances around…

(...Jeez...)

"You can go anywhere you want, just stay close to the rest of the group." I add up as I keep looking at the girl.

"O,ok…" Hitomi nods meekly and trots to the table, taking a seat on the opposite side from us.

Right as I was about to turn back to the map, I felt a rather strong jab to my left side. Darting my head to the left, I find Saya pouting at me.

"Two, isn't enough for you?" She 'ask' as she narrows her eyes.

"I'm just trying to be friendly…" I respond as I jab her back.

Saya lets out a short squeak before trying to 'retaliate', by once again 'rapid-firing' at me. This time though, Saeko had not taken over half my body. So I was able to catch both her hands with relative ease. And while still holding both her hands, I pull her towards me. As she got off her seat and leaned towards me, I passed my left arm over her head, while still holding her hands. Causing her to turn around and end up on my left leg, with her back facing me. The way I was 'hugging' her right now, it honestly looked like she was wearing a straitjacket.

"H,hey!" Saya flails her legs as she starts squirming. After trying to break free for a minute or so with no avail. She pushes her back against me and scoots to a more comfortable position, then stops moving…

"What, giving up already?" I ask as I lean my head over her shoulder and turn to look at her.

"Hum. T, this was my plan from the get-go…" She says with a huff as she turns to look away from me, focusing her eyes on the map.

(Oh, really now.)

My sight then falls to Saeko. Only to find her, smirking?

(Uhh. Why is she….)

"So you were, aiming, for this?" Saeko says as she narrows her eyes. Slowly getting up with the smirk still on her face..

"Wha, what are you doing?" Saya's eyes went wide as she darted her head to Saeko, who was now slowly creeping up to Saya.

"Remember, loud noises, attract them..." Saeko whispers as she tilts her head and leans towards Saya.

"Wha,WhaaaaaaAAAA!" Before Saya could even start her sentence, Saeko had her hands on both of Saya's sides, squeezing her.

"S,stop!, AhhAA, t,that's not! Fair!" Saya starts squirming again as she tries to speak among her batted breaths. Saeko leans her face closer to Saya's ear as she keeps on with her 'attack'.

"Neither is you hogging him for yourself." She whispers.

"F,fine! Stop! S,Stop!" Saya's eyes were starting to tear up as she kept squirming around.

"Oook, Saeko. I think she got the point…" I say as I turn to the purple-haired girl and 'block' Saya's sides with my arms. Saeko then turns to me, with an obviously flushed face.

"But maybe, you didn't~" Saeko whispers as she now leans her face closer to mine…

(Is she. Oh boy, just from this?)

"Nope, loud and clear…" I respond with a flat tone.

"Are you sure, I would not mind, checking…" Saeko responds as she narrows her eyes slightly. Her smirk turning more provocative by the second..

"Yep, definitely sure…" I respond as I let go of Saya, then pat Saeko on the head. She closes her eyes, and switches to a 'normal' smile as she lets out a small sigh.

"As, you wish." She replies and backs off, then sits back on her seat like nothing ever happened. Saya also unsteadily got up from my leg and sat back on her seat, her eyes glued to the map, and her face as red as her hair.

But, you know who else had an excessively red face right now? The girl on the opposite side of the table. Hitomi was just staring at us, wide-eyed and as still as a deer in front of headlights…

"And look what you did now, Hitomi is all freaked out." I say as I dramatically point at her with both my palms open while looking at the two girls.

"D, don't mind me…" Hitomi responds meekly as she glances away.

(O well, the sooner she figures 'it' out the better.)

"Ekhem, anyway…" I 'clear' my throat and turn back to the blushing Saya.

"As I was saying, roads. The map these guys had was empty, so, we're going blind." I add up.

"We already confirmed that." Saya responds while still looking at the map.

"Yea, so. Before we drive off with the car, let's first check the roads up ahead. Then pick the one that looks 'cleaner'. Most of em should be uphill ones. And I remember that one of them had a big rig. The road that led to the pharmacy, that then led to the mall." I say as I keep looking at the map.

"Won't driving around with the car cause more harm than good? We will waste fuel, and the sound can get corpses to flock at the beach." Saeko asks as she leans on the table while looking at me.

"We won't drive." I answer flatly.

"Walking is even more dangerous." Saya butts in.

"We won't walk." I answer again. Causing Saya to turn to me with an arched eyebrow and a slightly annoyed frown.

"We have a small boat. And, we have fishing lines. I say we eat something that ain't canned today." I add up as I lean back on my seat and fold my arms.

Saya stared at me for a couple of seconds, and as she opened her mouth, her stomach grumbled.

"I'll take that as a yes?" I 'ask' as I tilt my head.

"S, shut up…" Saya whines as she hugs her stomach and looks away...

"Hmm, I would actually like to eat some fresh fish to be honest." Saeko adds right after.

(Yea, as the ones we caught on the island ended up being a waste, what with everybody tripping out. Better we don't mention this to Hitomi though, if she figures out it was us on that boat, she might start holding us responsible for what happened to her.)

"You are forgetting something. We have no lure." Saya says as she turns to look at me.

"Hmm, we could use some of the canned…" As I was about to speak, I remembered that Saeko said that we found some gum in the gas station.

"Gum." I tilt my head as I finish my sentence.

"Canned, gum?" Saya frowns even more as she raises an eyebrow and questionably tilts her head.

"Uhh, no. Saeko, where did you put the bubblegums you said we found?" I ask as I turn to the purple-haired girl.

"It's in the crate with all our food, you want me to bring them here?" She asks. I nod at her, and she nods back before standing up and walking past us, towards the door that led to the garage.

"Bubble gum? You can fish with bubble gum?" Saya asks, even more weirded out.

"I need to see it first. If it has a sweet, strong flavor, then yea. You chew a small part, then stick it to the hook. It also tends to be rather hard to detach from the hook afterward, so that's an extra. As there is the chance you can catch multiple fish without adding new bait." I respond as I turn to Saya.

She blinks at me a couple of times, then gets up and goes to her bag, takes her textbook and a pen, then comes back to me.

"Say all that again. This time slower, and in more detail." She says as she puts the textbook on the table and flips to a blank page.

(Heh, that's, actually kind of cute.)

"Cut a small part of the gum, chew it until it becomes sticky, then wrap it around the hook's point, after that press it to make sure it gets stuck on the hook and won't come off easily." I keep looking at Saya as I speak, who's now scribbling on the page with a focused expression.

"You three knew each other before the outbreak?" Hitomi asks as she keeps looking at us. Saya stops writing, but keeps looking at her textbook.

"No, Naier saved me when the outbreak first started…" Saya responds as she lifts her head to look at Hitomi.

"I did?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"Locking me in a room with Kohta while drawing away the corpses. As idiotic as it was, if you haven't done that, I would have died there…" Saya responds as she turns to glance at me.

(Right, that did happen. But what else could I do? You're terrible at anything that has to do with athleticism. Not that I ever focused to see how you fared when we had same class exercises, but in that weird ass ps-vita pachinko game for highschool of the dead, you were horrible at sports. Or my pulls just sucked that much...)

"I see. You're, really lucky…" Hitomi lowers her head slightly as she starts speaking.

"The first living people I found, where these three…" She adds as she keeps looking away.

"We know we are lucky. And for me at least, Naier is the only real reason for still being here." Saeko, who just exited the door that led to the garage, spoke up.

"Heh, yea. Was it not for me, she would probably be chilling at some extraction point." I respond with a slight scoff as I look at Hitomi and motion my head towards Saeko.

"Naier, you know better than anybody. That I would have given up long before that." Saeko responds flatly as she sits to my right, placing the bubble gums in front of me.

"Or, you just wanted to hear me say it out loud?" She responds with a slight smile as she leans her body towards the table, then turns her head to look at me.

"Not, going to deny that." I take the rectangular package as I tilt my head. Opening the package, I find several thinner rectangles inside. And upon opening that wrapping as well, I find a piece of pink gum covered with white powder. I then lift my mask and balaclava until they are a little over my mouth, and bite off a small piece of the gum.

"Hmm, this should do. So, let's go fishing?" I ask as I lower my headgear and look at the girls.

"Uhh, yea. Sure…" Saya responds, with a rather disheartened tone...

(She doesn't sound very excited, then again. A rich girl like her might find fishing to be a bit too 'messy')

"You can stay back if you want." I say as I turn to Saya. She shakes her head and turns to me.

"Just, umm…" She purses her lips and starts pressing the tips of her index fingers to together as she lowers her head.

"You'll have to unhook what I catch." She adds as she folds her arms under her chest and lifts her head to look at me.

"Well, we only have three fishing lines. So one of us will be a lookout on the boat. You can do that if you want." I say as I keep looking at her. Saya shakes her head again.

"No, I want to try fishing." She responds flatly.

(My, our little princess doesn't know 'what' she wants.)

"Very well. Saeko, Hitomi? Who of the two of you wants to be the lookout?" I ask as I look at the two girls. And get, nothing.

"What, everybody wants to go fishing?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"It would be a good skill to have, so I would like to try." Saeko responds.

"I, have gone fishing before. With my father…" Hitomi responds with her head slightly lowered.

"Hmm, alright. I'm on binocular duty then. While you three fish, I'll check the roads." I nod as I get up from my chair.

"Saya, Saeko." I motion my head towards the garage door as I start walking towards it. The two girls glanced at Hitomi, then get up and follow me.

After entering the garage, I open the car's back door, and take the three fishing rolls from inside, then leave the Scar-H inside.

"Leave the big guns inside, keep the handguns." I say as I exit the car.

"And we'll need a bucket, we can probably get one from one of the bathrooms. Also, don't mention it was us on the boat just yet. We don't know how much of a handle Hitomi has on herself just yet." I add as I look at the three rolls. Saeko nods and turns to return to the previous room.

"Saya, keep the textbook with you, we'll take notes on the roads in there." I say as I turn to Saya, She nods and also turns to leave the room. Leaving me alone by the car.

(...I'm starting to get rather excited about this. It gives me the feeling of a very lame date.)

I turn to the car, close the door and lock it. Then exit the room as well and head to the table, take the binoculars, then head to the couch where we had our bags, and place the binoculars into mine. After that, I waited until the whole group was in the room. Before finally taking our stuff, and heading out the back gate...

After reaching the boat, we pushed it to the sea and entered it. Needless to say who was on rowing duty. So, we ended with me in the center, Saeko behind me on the 'front' of the boat, Saya in front of me to my left, and Hitomi to my right. The bucket in front of my legs.

"Ok, we will go a bit deeper in, then let the boat drift by the beach. I'll be on the binoculars, so if something's up. Tell me." I say as I keep rowing. Saya and Hitomi nod.

"Hitomi, you said you went fishing before right?" I hear Saeko ask behind me. Hitomi nods again in response.

"Hmm, then, Saya. Since me and you never fished before, how about a challenge?" Saeko asks again as she leans her head over my shoulder. Saya frowns slightly as she narrows her eyes, but stays otherwise quiet.

"The one who catches less. Will have to give up their 'spot' for a night." Saeko adds while still leaning over my shoulder. Saya keeps staring at Saeko for a couple of seconds, before frowning even more at her.

"Hum. Just don't come crying to me after you lose." Saya replies with a huff as she folds her arms...

Hitomi, was just glancing between the two girls with a questioning expression…

(...Lame date my ass, this is going to be a frigging battlefield.)


	45. Gone fishing

\- 4 Days before extraction-

You know how they say that fishing is a game of patience? Well, guess who's got the patience of a squirrel on coffee.

"Arrggg! Come on you stupid! BITE!" Saya shouts as she forcefully yanks the fishing line off the water. I glance at the fuming girl as she keeps trying to 'fish'.

(The world is really working against our pinkette here, isn't it. In the end, we decided not to explain 'how' to fish. And Saya, as luck would have it, or un-luck in her case. Managed to catch a single fish by accident, by yanking the hook up and stabbing it near the pelvic fins. So now she keeps trying the same method, with no success.)

I then glanced at the fish bucket, looking at the four fish that were inside.

(Hitomi managed to catch two, Saeko also caught one, and that's about it. Now, as there are four of us, we decided to catch one more fish. In order to break the tie between Saeko and Saya. Thus why 'somebody' is freaking out…)

Before turning back to my binoculars, I looked towards Saeko. who as expected, was as calm as always…

(Still, Saya freaking out like this. I didn't realize she didn't want to lose that badly…)

I smile slightly as I turn to focus back on the roads in the distance. And speaking of roads, with them all being uphill, meant I could only see 'our' side of the hill.

(In the end, we'll have to go blind. Guess we'll just pick the cleaner looking road that's closest to a straight drive toward the extraction point.)

Just as I let out a small sigh, Saeko yanks the fishing line up. A single fish flailing on the fishing line's end.

"Looks like I wi…" Yet, before Saeko could finish her sentence, the fish 'unhooks' itself and falls back into the water. Then starts swimming around the boat erratically.

"Looks like you didn't." Saya responds with a smirk as she turns to the purple-haired girl and narrows her eyes. Saeko then got up, and drew her sword…

(Uhh…)

Then, with a quick stab, she plunges half of her blade into the water. Lifting her sword right after, the fish she caught moments ago flailing on the edge of her blade…

"Does this count as a catch?" She asks as she turns to me, the whole group looking at her like idiots…

"Uhh, haven't you been stabbing corpses with that thing? You know we can't eat that now, right?" I 'ask' as I keep staring at Saeko.

"That might be true, but the challenge was to catch the fish, was it not?" She asks back with a smile as she tilts her head.

"That's cheating, we're supposed to fish normally." Saya responds as she folds her arms and frowns.

"Then, a draw?" Saeko asks once again.

"Cheating should be punished, you must forfeit one fish." Saya says with a demanding tone.

"That should be a decision to be made from one who is not part of this challenge." Saeko responds, and turns to look at me. Saya also turning to look at me shortly after…

"Uhhh…" I lift my binoculars to my eyes and start 'looking' through them…

(I'm the price, I can't have a vote in this. Yea, way too 'high horse' to actually say…)

"I know you can hear us idiot. Don't try to wiggle yourself out of this." Saya says as she puts away the fishing line. Then leans towards me and starts poking my shoulder.

(Uhh. fine, but as I already told em, making a decision that hurts one and benefits the other is a no go. So.)

"Tis a tie then. Now both of you have to give up your spot for a day." I respond flatly as I keep looking through the binoculars.

"What…" Saya leans back and frowns even more.

"That's just stupid, make a better decision." She adds right after as she folds her arms.

"You could give your spot to each other then, you already lost it. Sooo…" I say with a slight shrug.

Saya groans and turns to look towards the beach, her arms still folded. Saeko just giggled slightly and sat down, then wiped her sword with the cuff of her shirt.

"I didn't bring anything to clean my sword. Once we are done here, may I ask that we return to the house?" She asks as she sheaths her blade.

"We are pretty close to the end of the beach, the mansion is also near the end of the landmass…" I respond and turn to look at the textbook on the page where I had marked the roads that looked clear enough from here.

"Yea, let's start heading back. We still need to cook these after all." I nod as I point at the bucket with the fish. Saeko nods back at me with a slight smile.

"Good, because they're already starting to stink." Saya sighs as she pinches her nose and turns to look at the bucket.

"Gahh! My hands smell like fish!" She then shouts as she winches and backs away from her own hand. All the while I was trying not to choke myself from holding my own breath, hell knows I would have one angry Saya on me if I started laughing now. With that, I rowed back towards our 'house'...

And upon reaching the cement block that thinks itself a pier, we got off the boat and headed back into the house's backyard. The three dead guys from Hitomi's previous 'group' piled up to the right…

"Umm, Mister Naier…" Just as we started to head towards the garage door, Hitomi spoke up…

(Mister? God, really now?)

"Just Naier is fine" I respond as I stop and turn around. Hitomi nods slightly, then turns to glance at her three 'friends'.

"You said you wanted to check something. But…" She lowers her head and stops talking.

"Yea, Saeko, Hitomi can you please go and deal with the fish? Saya, I need you with me." I respond as I nod and turn to look at the girls, folding my arms as I speak.

"Very well, you want us to cook them too?" Saeko asks as she walks up to me and extends her arm, taking the bucket with the fish from me.

"Yea, if we're not back by the time you're done. Call us, we will be here or the front." I say as I keep looking at Saeko, who nods back at me in response before entering the house with Hitomi. I then walked up to Saya, who was waiting a little further down with her arms folded.

"Saya, hold on to this and wait here, I'm going to get my, uhh. Sword." I say as I give her the textbook and the pen, she just tilts her head questionably.

"What are we going to do?" She asks as I turn around and start walking towards the garage.

"Science!" I blurt out with a dramatic flair as I dart one arm to the air and point towards the sky.

After going into the garage, and then back into the main room. I went to the main table and got my new sword, then glanced at Saeko and Hitomi. Who were inside the kitchen, their backs turned to me, the faucet open next to them. What seemed to be fish tails sticking out from the sink.

"After we bleed out the fish, take two of them, I will prepare the other two. I will just have to leave you alone for a short bit in the meantime to clean my sword." I heard Saeko say as she turned to Hitomi, who just nodded in silence.

(They don't seem to realize I'm here. Well, all the doors were open so I didn't really make any noise.)

I give Saeko one last glance and turn to leave the room.

"Naier, do you want any herbs with your fish?" I hear Saeko ask the moment I turn my back to her.

"Anything that ain't spicy." I respond as I let out a small chuckle and exit the room.

(So much for not getting spotted.)

And so, I headed back out, to find Saya staring at the three dead dudes.

"Alright. Are you ready?" I ask as I walk up to her. Causing her to turn to me, her arms folded.

"Are you going to tell me what I am supposed to be ready for? Or I need to guess?" She responds as she takes a rather smug expression. Her lips curving in a one-sided smirk as she arches an eyebrow.

"We are checking how the bodies outside will react to the bodies inside." I respond as I walk up to her, then grab the blond one by the leg, and start walking towards the front yard. One hand holding the dead body, the other hand holding the sword.

(I left these three here to check whether the corpses would react to the smell. And from what I see, their smell might be as good as their sight. Because the back of the house is as empty as ever.)

"The blond one, Sho or what's hi…"

"The staring pervert." Saya cuts me off as I start speaking.

"That. The bullets that hit his face were all around the left part of his face, mostly his cheek. Meaning his spine and brain should be 'intact'. " I respond as we keep walking.

"I want to check if a 'dead' person can become a corpse, and if so, if it's only bites that do so." I add as we reach the front. Where I let go of the dead body's leg and walk towards the front metal door.

"I need you to make some noise, and keep making noise after I open the door. Because I'm slamming it shut the moment one of them gets inside, meaning it will turn to me if you ain't loud enough." I turn to Saya as I stop by the door, who just stared at me with a blank expression.

"W, wait." She stammers as she takes a couple of steps back, then turns around and runs back into the house through the front door…

(Uhh...ok?)

I tilt my head, then turn to look at the sword.

"Hmm, the sheath has a single ring on it to pass through the belt, I will need to tie it with a second belt or cloth, it'll be dangling around way too much if I leave it like this." I draw the sword and leave the sheath by the cement wall next to the door that led to the road, then kick the door. The rattling sound causing a couple of the corpses from the other side of the road to turn towards me.

"Ok I'm ready." Just then, Saya runs back out. A pan in one hand, a metal ladle in her other. I glance at her and nod, then sidestep behind the metal door as I open it.

I lift my hand and motion Saya to wait. She didn't respond. Just stood there like a statue with a serious expression…

(Ok, after one gets in, and if Saya won't mess up. I'll stab it through the back if its neck, I want to see if the rest of the body will keep functioning with the spinal cord severed.)

And just on cue, a single corpse strolls through the door. I turn to Saya and make a thumbs up, she responds by starting to slam the ladle on the pan, squinting her eyes as she leaned her head away from the noise. I nod as I turn to the door, giving it a strong kick as a second corpse was about to enter, causing the door to slam on the corpse, which then stumbled backward as the door slowly started to open back up. Using my boot, I push the door again, this time making it close completely. I then quickly bolt it shut and turn to the lone corpse as I step away from said door.

The corpse was still with it's back turned to me, creeping slowly towards Saya, who was still making a racket. I nod and lift the sword next to my head, using my free hand to 'balance' the blade by letting it rest on the back-side of my hand. And with a step towards the corpse, I stab forward. The blade piercing the back of the corpse's neck. With the blade still in my hand, I throw a strong stomp flat on the corpse's back. Causing it to fall flat on the ground, and remain down, unmoving.

"Is it dead?" Saya asks as she stops hitting the ladle on the pan, leaning slightly towards the unmoving corpse.

"Dono." I respond as I kick it a couple of times.

Seeing no response, I grab its arm as I put my boot on its shoulder. Then lift its arm and push it forward, up to the point where I felt resistance as it's shoulder could not twist any further. I then lean back, and with a strong push. I yank the arm forward, dislocating its arm with a 'cracking' sound. Saya winces and turns her head away the moment she heard the sound.

"Ugghh, warn me next time you do stuff like that." She groans as she turns to me with a frown.

"Sorry." I respond as I walk over the corpse and pull it by the now dislocated arm, turning it to face the sky.

"Uh. Is it…"

"Biting the air? Yes it is." I cut off Saya as I keep looking at the corpse's face. A constant 'clicking' noise coming from its mouth as it kept biting the air…

"Well, this is proof it needs nerves to function" I add up as I back away.

"Ok, let's see." With the still bloody tip of my blade, I walk up to Sho's body, and stab it at the chest.

"First, if blood infects." I add as I pull the blade out and back off.

"Uhh, Naier, a dead body has no blood flow, even if it does infect. Infected blood needs to circulate to where the infection can actually act. If the heart is not that point, then it won't react." Saya walks up to me and points at my blade with the pan, then at the dead body.

"Hmm, makes sense. But I don't want to stab his brain, I'd rather check something else if it's this or that." I nod and grab the dead body by the leg, then drag it to the biting corpse.

I then take Sho's head and push it against the corpse's mouth…

"Oh Saya, I'm going to..." I turn to Saya, to see her already looking away…

Another cracking sound, and Sho's body now had a visible bite mark right behind his ear. I nod and pull the body away, then leave it and walk away.

"Now, we wait." I add as I go by the house's front steps and sit down. Saya silently follows to sit next to me.

"You won't sheath the sword?" She asks the moment she sits down.

"I need to clean it first." I respond.

(I want to ask Saeko about that, but I'm not going to tell her that, knowing her she will get grumpy if I say I need Saeko's help. Also, she's really not going to bring any of this up? I mean, don't think a 'normal' person would calmly do 'this'. Then again, I've done worse, and she knows about it.)

"I see. Uhh, you think it will work? I mean Sho's body getting infected." Saya asks again.

"Dono, hope not. If 'it' can actually revive dead bodies, it's going to be way harder for everybody to deal with this." I answer.

"Huumm, I thought you didn't care about the rest of the world." Saya says as she turns to me with a slight smirk.

"I don't, but I can't take Japan back from brain munching corpses by myself. And, I can't take you out on a date with corpses roaming about in the streets now can I?" I respond as I turn to Saya. Her eyes going wide for a few seconds as her cheeks start to flush. She then turns to look away.

"No mask." She mumbles as she keeps looking away.

"What?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"You're not allowed to wear this stupid mask on our date…" She mumbles again.

"Alright. Is that enough for compensation then?" I 'ask' with a slight chuckle.

"...Only if the date turns out to be unforgettable." Saya responds as she turns to me with a blushing, yet serious face.

"Deal." I answer as I lightly laugh though my nose. Then turn to look at Sho's body…

(Awesome I got a date with Saya. All I have to do now is get rid of all the corpses, and not die. Heh, now back to a more realistic task. Sho's body should turn pretty fast, seeing how everybody turned with the flick of the wrist in the school. Longest one to turn was Hisashi, but he showed symptoms pretty fast. Without an immune system to fight back, a corpse should get taken over pretty fast. Or, not get taken over at all. If for example whatever this is 'needs' the immune system to spread, or flowing blood.)

We then sat in silence. Though Saya was constantly glancing around, twiddling her thumbs and looking overly restless, the pan and ladle on her thighs…

And soon, I noticed another thing, a smell. A smell of cooked fish.

(Oh damn. I must be really hungry, because I was never a fish eater. But right now this smells amazing.)

"Hey, wait a minute…" I hear Saya speak up. Turning to her, I find her staring intensely at me with a slight frown.

"We said no mask in safe spots." She adds as she pokes my mask a single time.

"You call a place that had a bunch of rapists inside safe?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"As you said. Had." She responds as she folds her arms and leans towards me, the frown still on her face…

I was about to open my mouth, when the door behind us opened. Saeko appearing behind it.

"The food is ready." She says as she turns her sight towards Sho's body, and the corpse that was still, biting air.

"Ok, I'll go clean up the sword and join you all then." I respond as I get up.

"Very well, let me give you a lint-free cloth to wipe the blade after you are done." Saeko says as she nods at me and turns around, heading towards the garage.

After she returned from the garage with a small napkin, she gave it to me and gave me some info on how to clean the blade. I then headed to the bathroom on the second floor. There, I used a random towel with some water to clean the blade, before wiping it with the napkin Saeko gave me.

After cleaning the blade, I glance at the mirror, seeing my reflection.

"They really don't like it huh. Me wearing a mask." I say to nobody in particular.

"Well, I like wearing it. That's reason enough for me. But well, I'm going to eat now so..." I pull off my mask and balaclava, then pass them over to my shoulder like a shoulder pad.

"Let's go." I nod slightly and head back down to the first floor.

"I'm going to get the sheath." I say as I walk towards the exit, all three girls following me with their heads, not saying a thing…

Once out, I head next to the door and pick the sheath, then put the sword back inside it. As I start to move towards the house, I glance at Sho's body. Still as dead as ever.

(If he is not up after we're done eating, I'll count it as bodies not getting infected after they die. Maybe Saya is right, without circulation this thing can't get to the brain, where I suspect the thing festers. Or, it actually needs a live host to kill and reanimate.)

Walking back to the house, I close the door behind me and head to the table, the girls already waiting for me there.

"Sorry for the hold up." I say as I walk up next to the table.

"It is alright, come, before it gets cold." Saeko responds with a smile as she pushes the plate next to her towards me.

I nod and take a seat…

(It actually has the swiss knife here instead of chopsticks. Saeko prepared this? Doubt Hitomi knows I'd rather use a fork.)

And so, after a short silence. We started eating. This time, without any 'lessons' from Saya to Saeko on how to hand-feed somebody. After a rather uneventful lunch, Saeko and Hitomi brought the dishes to the sink. We also decided to take at least one more plate with us, what with Hitomi being with us now.

I then returned back to the front to find Sho's body still as dead and unmoving as ever, the other corpse also seemed to have given up on chomping air and was just laying there.

(Hmm, is it dead or just waiting for something to poke it?)

I walk behind the 'alive' corpse and lightly kick it in the back of its head. And it instantly starts chomping air again.

(Nope, still alive. But without the spinal cord, it can't move.)

I back away and turn to the door that now had a couple of corpses sticking their arms out through the gaps.

(Saya's racket probably attracted them. Well no matter, we'll be leaving soon.)

I nod and head back into the house. Inside, Saya was sitting by the table, looking at her textbook. Saeko and Hitomi were by the kitchen.

"We have something left to do here?" I ask as I keep looking at the girls.

"We are done." Saeko replies as she turns to me.

"It must be about noon now, the sun will go down in seven to eight hours. You think we can make it to the mansion in one go? Because if we fail to do so, we'll end up at a location we know nothing about in the middle of the night." Saya lifts her head and looks at me as she speaks.

"We still have four days before they leave. Rushing will only endanger us more." She adds as she lowers her head, focusing on the textbook again.

"So we stay here and leave tomorrow? We're going to need another dynamite if so, corpses are banging by the front yard's door." I ask as I turn to glance towards the front door.

"We still have a surplus of dynamite. More than enough to spare." Saya replies as she keeps looking at a page for a few seconds, before closing the textbook and getting up with a stretch.

"I see." I nod and turn to Saeko, who after seeing that I was looking at her, glances at the couch…

"I do not mind staying here for today." She adds as she looks back towards me.

"Hitomi, you can lock your room and keep the key." I say as I glance at the new girl.

"I, understand." She responds with a meek nod.

"Can I just, please not have the room I was locked in…" She keeps speaking with her head still lowered.

"You can take the unused one. I'm taking the one I…" I stop talking and glance away.

(Can't say I've slept here before.)

"I'm taking the one where I killed the third one" I 'correct' myself.

"Very well, I'm taking that one as well then." Saeko responds as she tilts her head with a slight smile. Causing Saya to dart her head towards the purple-haired girl.

"H,hey! Today is supposed to be 'my' day!" She shouts as she turns her hands into fists and flings them next to her hips. Slightly stomping her foot to the ground.

"Yes, but we both lost our spot after we tied, didn't we?" Saeko 'asks' with a calm expression as she turns to the fuming pinkette.

"Or you don't want to trade after all? We will both lose like that though." She 'asks' again as she tilts her head...

"Ughh. Fine…" Saya groans as she turns to look away, folding her arms in obvious annoyance.

"Ok, one more dynamite then." I add as I turn towards the garage.

After going to the car, I unlock it and grab a stick of dynamite, along with the new crossbow and two of its bolts. Then head out to the front yard, cock the crossbow, put the bolt on it, aim at Sho's head, and fire. The bold getting lodged into his skull with a relatively loud thud.

"Uhh, let's see" I kneel down and place my knee over the body's neck, then grab the part of the bolt that was still protruding, and pull…

The bolt, while moving about, did not come off. I tilt my head and start twisting the bolt slightly, pulling it at the same time, until finally. It came off, with a sound I'd rather not describe..

"Alright…" I get up and cock the crossbow again. Placing the same bolt on the crossbow, I aim at the 'bitting' head, and pull the trigger again. Another loud thud, and the head stops moving for good. Placing my knee on its neck as well, I grab the bolt and pull it…

This time, other than that the bold was deeper in the skull, it came off rather fast, actually breaking off part of the skull.

"Well, that proves that corpses have weaker bones." I clean the bolt on Sho's shirt, then leave it, along with the crossbow on the ground.

"Now." I take dynamite from my pocket, light it up, and toss it over the door. While waiting for it to blow up, I grab both dead bodies by the leg, one with each hand.

And the moment the explosion went off, I headed to the door. Once the corpses had turned around and walked away. I silently opened the door and dragged the bodies outside, then left them and got back inside the house, giving one last glance at the corpses around the street.

(These explosions are bringing way to many of them here. Thankfully we can leave from the back gate, and they are not on 'our' side of the road.)

Closing the door behind me, I head back into the house. And after cleaning the bolt in the first-floor bathroom and leaving it in the car along with the crossbow. I returned to the main room, where the other three girls were at, all sitting by the giant table.

"Well, now what?" I ask as I also sit by the table.

"Hmm. Good question…" Saeko responds as she tilts her head slightly, looking at the table in though.

"Umm, the three guys, they found a couple of board games while we were waiting…" Hitomi speaks up as she glances at us.

"Board games? Well, that doesn't sound bad actually." I say as I fold my arms and arch an eyebrow.

"I'll bring them." Hitomi answers back as she nods. Getting up from her chair and heading up to the second floor…

"Board games hmmm?" Saya turns her hand into a fist and places her knuckle on her mouth, looking at Saeko with a slight smirk.

Saeko on the other hand just smiled back at Saya as she closed her eyes and tilted her head.

"Is something on your mind?" Saeko asks.

"Hmm, nothing. It's not like I think it's unfair that you get to sleep with Naier on a normal bed, while I get the sleeping bags." Saya responds plainly.

"Oh?" Saeko just raises an eyebrow as she looks at Saya.

"I don't like ties, so let's have a rematch." Saya adds as she folds her arms.

"Humm, but if what you say is true, I have a better bargaining position than you right now. Why should I accept?" Saeko responds with a smirk. Causing Saya to frown and narrow her eyes.

"I'll give you the win even if we end up with a tie." Saya responds as her face turns serious. Saeko thinks for a bit, then nods.

"Very well." She says with an inconspicuous smile.

(Oh boy…)

And so, we waited. Though we did first switch spots, and by switch, I mean the girls coming to sit next to me.

"What do you think they might have?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"No idea, I didn't expect the rich folk here to even have board games to be honest." I respond with a slight shrug.

(I want to say that rich people are usually no fun. But we have Saya here, and she was/is definitely rich.)

"Sorry for being slow" Just then, Hitomi comes down the stairs, on her hands, board games, up to the point that they almost covered her eyes.

I motion the girls to get up, before heading to the girl and taking some of the boxes.

"Thank you" She responds as she looks at me. I nod and turn to leave the box on the table. And soon after, all the board game boxes were laying on said table…

"Soooo. What do we play?" I ask as I tilt my head…

(None of these are familiar to m...ohh?)

My sight stops on two board games that I did know. Pandemic, and Dead of winter?

(A game about a zombie outbreak, or a game about a viral outbreak. In the middle of the zombie apocalypse. I wouldn't go and do something like that, right? Right? Oh who am I kidding, of course I would.)

"These two" I say as I point at the two games…

"Really now?" Saya 'asks' as she turns to me, her eyebrows making a straight line as she stares at me..

"Yep." I respond flatly.

"I'm fine with whatever." Saeko responds.

"Umm, me too…" Hitomi adds up, causing Saya to groan…

"Fine, but pandemic is cooperative only…" The annoyed pinkette adds, then glances at Saeko.

"The other one ain't, if you are willing to backstab people." I say with a slight shrug as I take the manual for the Dead of winter lookalike…

(I'm kind of shooting myself in the foot by playing this game though, I know I won't be able to backstab anybody. There is a difference between antagonizing somebody to protect yourself or somebody you care for. And making them trust you just so you can stab them in the back later…

Still, this one seems to have a couple of differences compared to the game I know. But other than that, it looks the same. One main mission for all. And one personal mission for each player)

"Fine, what do we start with?" Saya asks as she sighs slightly.

"Let's start with this one." Saeko responds as she points at the Dead of winter, aka the one with the backstabbers.

(...Should I be scared?...)

And so, we sat around the table, set the cards, picked a random character as instructed along with our 'secret task', and set the overall 'world' layout…

"Based On what our main objective is. We need to survive for ten days." Saya says as she looks at our main quest…

"Ok, here we go…" I nod and take the first dice roll…

**-5 minutes later-**

"I locked all the doors, but didn't have enough planks to barricade the left windows." Saya places down a card and turns to look at me.

"I got no planks either, let's just keep one to guard the window." I respond, Saya nods and leaves one of her two characters by the window.

**-15 minutes later-**

"I got the handgun, I can deal with two of them. Then, we can enter the house." I say as I point at the house marked as 'target'.

"But the sound, you will be trapped there. I will come with you." Saeko says as she places her character next to mine.

"As you wish." I respond.

**-25 minutes later-**

"The horde will change direction if we activate the south alarm." Hitomi points at the south part of the 'safehouse' as she speaks.

"Don't be stupid, that will bring everything here." Saya replies.

"But you have better defenses than this house, if they come here, both me and Naier will die." Saeko responds.

"Fine. But only for two rounds…" Saya groans.

**-30 minutes later-**

"You need to leave the building, it will get overrun on the next round." I point at the house that me and Saeko were in.

"If I leave, you will die." Saeko flatly responds.

"There is a fifty percent chance I can survive a round, that's all I need to set the radio. If you stay, you die." I shake my head and turn to her.

"You bail now. That is not a request." I add as I point at her character.

"Saya can you not keep the alarm on for one more round?" Saeko asks as she turns to Saya, who shakes her head.

"One more round and the safehouse will get overrun. No can do." She replies flatly.

"I am not leaving then." Saeko shakes her head and keeps her character in place.

"Yes you are." I instantly respond as I place a card down and move her character away…

**-50 minutes later-**

"Naier, open the lock. You will get killed if you don't exit the room." Saeko raises her voice as she moves her character next to the room I was in, a card with a locked door icon on it..

"Yea, but with the radio active and one person in the room. We cut the rounds we need to win by three, in other words, we win next round." I respond as I keep the lock card in its place.

" 'We', won't win next round. You will be dead." Saeko speaks back as she tries to open the lock with a dice roll, that she failed spectacularly, seeing as her character sucked at lockpicking…

**-55 Minutes later-**

"And it's over" I say as the round ends. The room that my character was in, overrun by a shit ton of zombies. To put it in perspective, I needed to make thirteen perfect rolls to survive, I failed at the second one.

"Only one death, not too bad to be honest." I add as I lean back on my chair.

"We still need to check our personal goals, to see who scored the most." Saya places her card on the board.

"I had to have at least three-fourths of all the players alive, seeing as only Naier lost his main character. My goal is complete." Saya continues as she turns to Saeko.

"I had to make sure one character of my choosing survives." She says as she places her card on the board. The character she picked, was mine. In other words.

"You failed." Saya says as she glances at her card, a slight smirk on her face.

"Umm, I had to survive to the end with a surplus of food." Hitomi speaks up next as she places her card down.

"So, that's why you hoarded all the bean soup. Heh, looks like your task is also done" Saya glances at Hitomi's card as she speaks. She then turns to me.

"What about you?" Saya asks as she looks at my card that was still flipped over.

"Uhh, I had to be the only survivor." I say as I turn the card and push it toward the center. Saya's face instantly turning into a disapproving frown.

"What? The way you played was the complete opposite. Did you even look at your card before now?" She asks as she raises an eyebrow and keeps looking at the card.

"I played the way I liked, I didn't want to kill any of you." I responded with a slight shrug.

"So killing yourself, was part of playing how you liked?" Saeko asks with a rather serious expression.

"Uhh, no. But it was this, or all of you dying. The horde would have turned to the safehouse before three rounds had passed." I answered as I turned to Saeko. She stayed quiet for a few seconds, looking at the card with my personal quest.

"I am going to take a short break." She says right after, getting up from the table and leaving towards the front yard…

(...'This' I did not expect...)

"Uhh give me a second" I also get up from my chair as I look at Saya and Hitomi, both of them just glance at me and nod. I then head towards the front door that Saeko had just used to exit the room.

Upon opening the front door, I find Saeko with her back turned to me, her arms folded and looking towards the front yard door.

"Did it really bother you this much?" I ask as I walk up next to her, closing the door behind me.

Saeko lowers her head slightly, but does not turn to look at me.

"I am sorry. It is just that…" She raises her head as she keeps looking towards the front door.

"All this felt a bit, too real. Considering our circumstances." She adds.

"Uhh, you have a point there…" I glance at the gate before turning back to Saeko.

"Sorry, I didn't intend to make you feel distraught." I say as I place my hand on her shoulder. Saeko shakes her head and smiles slightly.

"No, don't apologize. I just got a bit too engrossed in the game. It is silly of me to act like this because of it" She says as she turns to me, her arms still folded and her head still lowered.

(Yet you're doing a great job at making me feel even more guilty about it.)

I slide my hand from her shoulder to her back, and pull her to me. Then wrap my other hand around her.

"I got no intention of leaving you." I whisper as I keep hugging her.

I felt her arms moving as she 'unfolded' them from under her chest, then slowly wrapping them around my sides and to my back. She then lifts her head And without speaking, presses her lips against mine. She then pulls her head back after a couple of seconds, her cheeks having a deep blush on them.

"Why do I get the feeling that this was what you were after for from the get-go?" I 'ask' as I arch an eyebrow and tilt my head with a slight smirk. Saeko smiles and closes her eyes.

"I really, was not. But, it is not an outcome that I want to complain about." She responds as she opens her eyes and tightens her arms around me.

"And well, there's this other thing…" I say as I glance away. Causing Saeko to inquiringly look at me.

"How can I gloat that the girl in my arms was voted as the sexiest in my school if I'm dead?" I add with a slight chuckle as I turn to her. Causing Saeko to blink at me a couple of times before closing her eyes with a slight giggle.

"You really don't don't come off as a person who would gloat." She responds as she opens her eyes with a smile.

"Uhh, yea. You're not really wrong about that. But saying that I don't gloat. It's like gloating that I don't gloat." I glance away again as I turn my head with a one-sided smile. Saeko just laughed though her nose in response.

"Let's go inside?" I ask. Saeko nods slightly and lets go of me as she takes a step back.

"I guess I can leave Saya to have the win for today…" She says as she glances away.

"Although, I was really looking forward to tonight after switching spots with her." She adds as she keeps looking away with a slight smile.

"Now you are just trying to guilt-trip me." I respond as I fold my arms. Saeko laughed lightly before turning to me.

"Let us go back inside. I know of somebody that would get very pouty if I keep you for myself for too long" Saeko responds as she turns towards the door and walks up to it, turning to me as she places her hand on the knob.

"And, thank you. I, really needed that." She adds as she opens the door, walking inside the room…

I turn to look towards the corpses outside on the road before going inside the room as well. After that, we decided to switch to the other board game, the 'pandemic' lookalike.

Thankfully, as this one was fully cooperative, we had no 'events' during playing. And, we ended up playing, for a rather long time. Up to the point that the sky was starting to lose its color…

**-Several world-ending failures later-**

"Yaaawwn…" Saya puts her hands over her mouth as she stretches, then rubs her eyes while lifting her glasses with one hand.

"Tired?" I ask.

"We have been playing for what must have been hours by now. I do feel a bit sluggish." Saya responds with a slight nod as she opens her eyes and turns to me.

"Should we call it a day? The sooner we go to sleep, the sooner we'll leave tomorrow." I ask as I look at the girls.

"Yes, the sooner we reach that extraction, the better." Saeko responds.

"Well, let's pack up then. I'm going to check the car and the gates." I nod as I get up, the girls nodding back in response.

"I am going to boil some water." Saya says as she also gets up.

"Boil water?" Hitomi asks as I leave the room.

First, I checked the car, making sure that all the doors were locked. After that I checked the back gate, then the back garage door. After that I checked the front gate and yard door, then the house's front door and front garage door.

(Ok everything is locked, let's go.)

I nod and enter the main room. The girls gathered by the couch with the bags, looking at what seemed to be clothes, I guess the ones they would be sleeping in.

"The wardrobe of this couple is really 'fancy'…" Saya mumbles.

"Hmm, is that a bad thing?" Saeko adds as she lifts what seemed to be a see-through black nightgown. Saya casually lifts her head and looks at what Saeko was holding, her face instantly taking a very deep shade of red.

"I, I'm going to wear something from the stuff I brought with me." Saya starts digging through her bag furiously as she pretty much shoves her face in it. Saeko just tilted her head while Hitomi was glancing around at the clothes.

"You'll use the top bathroom?" I ask, causing Saya to slightly jerk her body as she glances at me, probably startled as she had not realized I was in the room.

"Y,yes..." She responds as she turns back to the bag.

"Should we prepare another bottle with hot water?" Saeko asks right after.

"I'm fine with cold water." I answer as I shake my head and start heading towards the stairs.

(While I have the 'Pijamas' I picked from here. Why not use a new set now that I can. Having to wake up in the middle of the night in case of emergency aside. Sleeping half-naked next to Saya. Yea, even I got limits. Though it will be more important on what 'she' will wear. If she pops with that see-through nightgown for example. Uhh, I'm not gonna be held responsible for my actions then...)

With that, I move to 'my' room and grab a set of track pants, a shirt and some underwear. Then head back down, enter the 'study' and head to the bathroom that was in the left far end of the room. Locking the door behind me after entering the bathroom…

"This is the second time Saya gets to sleep with me on that bed huh?" I say to myself as I turn to the mirror.

"At least this time, she won't have to be all sneaky about it…" I chuckle as I start taking off my gear.

After taking a quick bath I wear my new clothes and clean some of my gear. Then exit the bathroom and enter the main room. The girls were nowhere to be found.

(Probably taking a bath, anyway, I should take my toothbrush from my bag.)

I nod and head to the couch, open my bag and pick my toothbrush from inside, my eyes falling on the clothes the girls were looking at, some of them on the chair, others on the couch and a couple of the table.

(I guess it's true what they say about girls and clothes, I just picked the first dark-colored thing I saw.)

I then move back to the bathroom and finish cleaning my gear and whatnot. After finally finishing. I return to the main room, take my bag and head up to the second floor. And judging from the sounds that were coming off from the bathroom, it was obvious where the girls were at.

I start walking towards my room. And realize something important…

(Uhh, the pool of blood is still here…)

I groan and return to the first floor's bathroom, taking a mop.

(Some of it might have dried but, but not much I can do about that.)

I then headed back up to the second floor, entered my room and cleaned the blood. Thankfully, no blood was on the bed and I could not see any visible blood splatter anywhere. None the less I also changed the sheets and blanket for good measure by using new ones from the closet. Then, I casually tossed everything out the window. Broom included. Because why not.

(And that's that.)

I 'wipe' my hands and sit on the bed, before completely lying down and closing my eyes.

(Uhh, where did I leave my clothes? The bathroom? Whatever, they were not dirty, I'll wear them again tomorrow…)

I let out a small sigh as I opened my eyes and start staring at the ceiling.

(We're really lucky these things don't seem to evolve, or mutate, or some other crap. God knows things could be much worse if they started running or climbing like in world war Z. Or start turning into volatiles from Dying light. Ughh, the night is bad enough now that we got no lights. Don't need a bunch of souped-up brain munchers than are weak to uv light that nobody has right now.)

I stayed like that for some time. Until the sound of running water and giggling girls from 'next door' stopped.

(Huh, they sure took their time, it's not like we're on a limited supply of water or something. But whatever, tomorrow at this hour, we should be at the mansion.)

I turn my body and look at the window to my left, the sky now having a deep orange color.

(Because if we're not there by the time the sun is out, we'll be in big trouble.)

And just on cue, I heard my door open. Or well, slightly open. I was able to see the door from the window's reflection without turning to look at it. What else I could also see, other than a half-opened door. Was a head with pink hair poking out from the side…

(What is she doing?)

The door slowly opens, Saya creeping inside, then closing the door behind her. From what I could see, her hair was down and was wearing a silky white, noodle strap nightgown that ended a little under her thighs. She then silently creeps to the edge of the bed, and stays there, staring with her arms folded.

"I know you're not asleep…" Saya says in a low tone. I just keep staring at her through the window's glass…

After a couple of seconds, she puffs her cheeks and pouts. Then closes her eyes and lowers her head, seemingly in thought. Before opening her eyes with a big nod, she then bends her legs as she unfolds her arms and lifts them up to shoulder height. And jumps, landing next to me with her knees, the force strong enough to actually lift me in the air for a second. I remained motionless as I landed back on the bed, ending back in the exact same pose I was before Saya jumped on the bed. I then felt Saya leaning on my right arm with both her hands, turning my head. I find her face now hovering above mine.

"Sup?" I raise an eyebrow as I look at the pouting pinkette.

"Don't sup me idiot." She answers with a frown as she keeps staring at me.

"I demand that you pay attention to me..." She whines, her voice weakening as she glances away.

(Demand it ehh?)

I get up to a sitting position and turn to the 'sulking' girl.

"You got my undivided attention" I respond as I raise an eyebrow and smirk slightly.

"Hum." Was all Saya said as she threw the occasional glance at me, not moving from her spot, or saying anything else.

We then sat there for a couple of minutes, not doing anything…

(Oh fuck it.)

I lean forward and pass my arm around Saya's back. Then lie back down with my arm still around Saya, who 'fell' forward on the right side of my chest with a short yelp.

"W,what are you doing..." She asks with a short whine, but makes no effort to get off me whatsoever.

"Got bored of sitting." I answer flatly as I softly stroke Saya's back.

"Well, I was fine sitting, you didn't have to drag me down with you." She answers back with the same whining voice, her arms still folded under her chest.

"You can get up if you want." I answer as I bring my hand towards her neck, making it disappear under her hair.

"It's too much effort now, because of you." She replies as I feel one of her arms crawling under me, her other arm sliding over my torso and to my back, ending with her hugging me as she gets in a more comfortable position, wrapped her legs around one of mine. After she stopped moving, she let out a heavy sigh…

After a few minutes of silence, I found myself drifting to sleep. Saya occasionally nuzzling her face against me.

"Ughh, I'm going to fall sleep…" She groans as she lifts her head and shakes it.

"Ain't that the point?" I ask as I turn to look at her.

"I don't want to…" She whines as she bumps her head on my chest.

"I'd rather stay awake now. I can sleep in the car…" She adds right after.

"And who's going to be my co-driver?" I ask with a slight chuckle as I bring my hand from her back to her head, and fondle it.

"B,but. I, want to...c..dle" Saya buries her face between her shoulder and me as she finishes her sentence, muffling her sentence.

"You want to do what?" I ask with a one-sided smile.

"...uddle..." She 'answers' with her face still buried.

I put my hands to her sides and 'pull' her up. She groans slightly and wiggles herself until her face is on the pillow next to me. Her eyes wide open, staring right at me.

(Hmm, always though Saya had orange eyes. Seeing them from this close though, they are actually a dark shade of amber…)

"Q,quit staring at me. Idiot." She whispers as she looks away without moving her head.

Without speaking I bring my hand to her cheek, and run my finger on it. Saya takes a short breath as she turns her eyes towards my hand before looking away again. Her cheeks also starting to take a deeper shade of red. She then tightens her arms around me, scooting even closer, her body pressing up against mine, nuzzling her face on my neck. I'm not going to lie. I found myself smiling as I closed my eyes, tightened my arms around Saya. And, as I felt myself falling asleep…

(Uhh. Why does my neck feel, wet?...)


	46. On the road once again

"To your left!" The white-haired girl shouts as she flies right over my head.

Glancing to my left and down. I see a giant metallic, half-snake, half humanoid dragon 'thing' coming right at me. Mouth gaping open, thousands of small rotating saw blades visible in its mouth.

I turn the right jet wing that's hovering right next to my shoulder and aim the thruster straight down, then blast it off. The serpent scheming right past my legs as it whizzes past me. The force of the blast making me roll over in the air, as the next moment I was able to focus the targeting system of my suit, I was upside down.

"Wide open." I chuckle as I throw a light punch to the right jet wing. The metallic contraption responding by lining up to my side, with the thruster now pointing forward. And as the circle on my visor started to home in on the back of the serpent, the tip of the thruster started to shrink in scale, turning into a muzzle.

'Target Locked' a notification appears on my visor's top-left part as the circle flashed red. With the flick of the wrist, the thruster activated, a stream of red light coming from the tip. Instantly impacting the back of the robot that started to flail about as it plummeted towards the ground.

"Activate second, third, and fourth cannons." I throw another light tap on the wing to my left. Causing it to also come to my left side and point forward, two more cannon-like wings coming up over my shoulders, also pointing forward, while the serpent-like robot crashed into the ground, creating a large crater at the point of impact.

Nonetheless, it lifted itself up and turned to face me. Pointing the giant ax it had its hand at me, the thrusters on the underside of its body causing the trees around it to sway. The shot that connected to its back, seemed to only anger it even more.

"Naier what are you doing?! Move!" The flying, purple-haired girl shouts as she slices through a drone.

"No need. That killachine, it ain't getting off the ground again." I respond as all four thrusters 'break apart'. a bright red light shining through the cracks of the contraption along with a constant whirring sound that kept increasing in volume as the light through the cracks started to also increase in intensity.

'Charge. 80%' A text appears on the top right part of my visor as the metallic serpent then launches itself off in the air. Brandishing the ax in its hand as it started screeching like a banshee, dashing towards me...

'Charge. 100%' And, with a 'tick'. A deafening sound echoed as I got pushed back, my vision also taken away from the exceedingly bright light...

"Naier!" I hear a voice shout again…

"Naier…" The voice says again, this time in a much calmer tone.

"Come on, how long are you going to…" The voice then stops mid-sentence. After a short silence, I felt something touching my neck, poking a certain place on the left side...

"Ahh, this is. Uhh, I, might have gotten a bit too, fixated yesterday." The voice whispers.

"He, he might not see it. He's always wearing his idiotic mask after all." It adds right after.

"Come you stupid, think, think…" The voice then says in an annoyed tone.

"I'm going to bring it here…" It adds. And then, disappears…

After some time in silence, I let out a groan bringing my hand to my face. An annoying bright light poking straight into my eyes…

I let out a sigh as I opened my eyes. The light that kept bugging me, was coming from the open window to my left, the sun, being the annoying brat that it is, was shining straight into my face at full force…

"Ughh." I groan as I shake my head and turn away from the window, and end up facing the closed door…

It took me several minutes to realize that 'somebody' was missing. A certain pink-haired girl was not here. I bink a couple of times before lifting my head, looking around the empty room.

(Saya got up before me?)

I blink another couple of times before getting to a sitting position. Then stretch, before 'slamming' my hands on the bed, then continued to look around the room aimlessly. Until, the door to my right opened. Turning to it, I see Saya, her hair back to being twintails, and wearing her 'mall' attire, except that she still had the white jacket on top of the brown 'HQ' shirt, though she left it completely unbuttoned now. The rest was the same, the rather short shorts with the black suspenders and sports shoes.

"Finally awake?" She asks as she walks up to me, then sits on the bed while still facing me. Or, to be more precise, she was staring at my neck?

"Here." She says as she leaves the mask and balaclava on the bed.

"Uh, you didn't have to bring them up here. And I thought you didn't like it when I wore this?" I ask as I glance at my headgear, then back at Saya.

"I don't. But you're a persistent idiot so…" She responds, cutting her sentence as she looks away.

"I see." I answered blankly while staring at her.

"W,well I'm doing you a favor, so be grateful." She then exclaims as she turns to me with a frown, her hands folded under her chest. I, just tilt my head slightly…

(My brain filter ain't on yet. Stupid ideas, flooding in.)

"Want a reward cuddle?" I ask with a slight smirk, causing Saya to blink at me a couple of times, her eyes wide open as her cheeks started to blush.

"I, can't get on the bed with these clothes. Idiot…" Saya whines in a low tone as she glances away.

(But ain't you already sitting on the bed?)

I slide to the side of the bed that she was on, then turn to her. Saya still had her arms folded, looking straight ahead of her, occasionally turning her eyes towards me.

With nothing happening for a couple of seconds, I stretch and let off a yawn as I fall back on the bed.

"I hate mornings…" I groan as I bring my hands to my face.

"The sun has been up for some time now. It's not that early..." Saya responds as I feel the bed move, followed by 'something' pressing up against my chest.

Removing my hands from my face, I find Saya's face hovering above mine. She was actually still 'sitting' next to me, but the upper part of her body was now on top of me. Her chest pressing up against mine, her hands folded on her sides, ending up with her fingers on my shoulders. And, before she, or I, could do anything else. Her glasses slipped from their place, and ended up landing on my face.

"Bah. Under attack, send backup." I groan as I shut my eyes and shake my head.

"S,sorry." Saya apologizes as she quickly picks the glasses from my face, folding them, and placing them next to us.

"So, slept well?" I ask as I open my eyes and slide my hands from her shoulder to her back. Saya just glanced away and nodded, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"You?" She asks back as she turns to me.

"I got no complaints." I answer as I bring my hand near the lower part of her waist, then slide it under her jacket and shirt, Saya going wide-eyed as I run my hand up on her back.

"What do you think you're, khhumm..." Yet, before she could finish her sentence, she let out a soft moan as I lightly scratched her back.

"You don't like it?" I ask as I arch an eyebrow. Saya responds by closing her eyes and lowering her head, placing her forehead against my neck.

"A little more to the left…" She groans softly.

"I'll take this as a positive reaction." I say with a small chuckle. Then creep my hand up close to her armpit and skim my fingers around that spot, causing Saya to wiggle about with a slight giggle.

(Ohh? This must be the first time I actually hear Saya giggle.)

She then lifted her head to look at me. But, instead of the pout that I expected to see, she was actually smiling. And, with a quick motion, she leans forward. Planting a kiss on the right corner of my lips before getting up.

"We can't waste too much time here, we still have a mansion to reach." She says as she fixes her shirt and jacket, then turns to look away.

"I also feel like I could get addicted to this if I let you do it to me for too long." She whispers as she keeps looking away.

"A, anyway. Get dressed and come downstairs, everybody other than you is already up." She then adds before leaving the room in a quick pace, her head slightly lowered.

"Dressed? All you brought to me was the mask..." I say to myself after Saya had already left the room. After a couple of seconds, I shrug and get up, grabbing my mask and balaclava before heading into the bathroom on the second floor…

After washing my face and looking at the mirror, I noticed several red marks on my neck. And upon closer inspection, I could actually see. Teeth marks?

"Saya you friggin vampire." I say with a chuckle as I wear my headgear.

"No wonder you wanted me to wear this so badly." I shook my head and walked out of the room. Then headed to the first floor, where all three girls were waiting. Saeko and Hitomi dressed up in their 'normal' yesterday's clothes.

"Good morning." Saeko spoke up the moment she saw me, almost instantly tilting her head after she noticed that I was wearing my headgear with my 'pajamas'. Saya on the other hand, who was behind the other two girls. Let out a small relieved sigh.

"Umm, morning." Hitomi adds right after.

"Morning." I respond to the girls as I raise my arm, then start heading towards the first-floor bathroom.

"Left my clothes in the bathroom on this floor. Check that you didn't leave anything behind. We're leaving the moment I get out." Saeko nodded at me and turned to pick the two swords that were on the big, main table. Then headed towards the garage. Saya picking our bags from the couch, Hitomi helping Saya.

After entering the study and then going to the bathroom, I started changing to my actual clothes.

"Ok, mansion, extraction, and then hopefully, somewhere safe." I nod to myself as I glance at the mirror, then head back out.

"Ready?" I ask as I enter the room.

"Yes, let's go." Saeko, who was back in the main room, responds with a nod.

And so, we entered the car, Saeko opening the back garage door and gate before entering the car herself.

"Think we could take the boat with us?" Saya asks as she turns to me.

"The windows of the car don't come down to pass a rope around, and it does not have a rail to pass the rope on the roof either, we got nowhere to fasten it. And we are not dragging it behind with a trailer, makes it hard to maneuver and almost impossible to reverse." I answer as I keep looking at the side mirror while driving in reverse.

"Hmm, yea. I guess you're right." Saya nods slightly as she takes the map out of the bag that was next to her feet, along with her textbook. Which she then opens to the page with the information I noted about the roads.

"If all goes well, we will be there in less than two hours." She says after she runs her finger on the map.

"That's if all the roads we need to take are clear." She adds up.

"In other words, fat chance." I responded, Saya just nodded slightly.

Once the Humvee got out on the sand, I turned it to face towards the right before switching to 'D'.

(Last trip. Here we go.)

I nod slightly to myself and press on the gas.

"Based on the stuff you noted here, we have two roads we can take, one is near us, about two intersections down, the other is pretty far down, meaning it's closer to the mansion." Saya keeps looking between her map and the textbook as she speaks.

"Aight." I nod as I keep looking at the beach that extended ahead. Then bring my hand to the left part of my neck and massage it for a few seconds, Saya turning to stare at me.

"Is something wrong?" She asks.

"Vampires after my neck." I responded with a slight smirk. The two girls in the back seat turning to look at me with a questioning look. Saya on the other hand, started staring at me with an 'oh shit' expression. She then glanced around with a blushing face before looking back at the map that laid on her thighs…

(Don't do the crime, if you can't take the punishment.)

After that, we continued down the beach in relative silence...

"I wonder where they will extract us…" Until Hitomi spoke up.

"Japan has a lot of small uninhabited islands. While they might not be viable for a long term stay. As long as an infected person is not brought inside, it will be safe from the corpses. They can't swim, and the only way for them to reach it, is by randomly winding up there after falling into the deep sea, as marching into the sea from the beach will just push them back up on the shore" Saya keeps looking at her map as she speaks.

"Other than that, a cruise ship, or a plane carrier. The latter could act as a 'branch' point. Bring survivors there via a helicopter, then from there send them to a safe zone. This way the J.S.D.F would be able to also have better control of who goes where, or keeping people that they need, like engineers and doctors. And as bad as it sounds, getting 'categorized' by the J.S.D.F. I mean. They are the best chance we have for an actual counter-attack against the corpses." Saya continues.

"Are they really going to help us though? The army I mean…" Hitomi looks out the window as she asks.

"You think they would try to kill us instead?" Saya asks, Hitomi does not respond.

"You watch too many movies. The army is a nation's biggest strength. So it's easy to make them the bad guy to increase the tension in a movie, making it look like the heroes are up against a powerful foe by themselves." Saya answers as she pushes her glasses closer to her face..

"I'm not saying we should blindly trust everything they say. But we should not take it like they are out to get us. They 'are' extracting people out after all. That means that they are already allocating resources for it" Saya adds.

(You know, mentioning the aircraft carrier. World war Z might be a good example of this. The 'army' there was actively helping civilians. To the point that the water filter of the aircraft carrier started to malfunction because of being overcrowded. Though they did send the people to camps afterward. That, for all the crap they got, the main dude's family didn't look any worse for wear when he got to them in the end)

"You, sure know a lot Saya." Hitomi says right after Saya's 'explanation'.

"Hum, of course. I 'am' a genius." Saya declares with a triumphant huff.

(Heh. I missed this punchline.)

I chuckle under my breath as I keep driving…

"Actually. what are we going to do with the car?" Saya asks as I leave the beach and climb up the road.

"You mean once we reach the extraction?" I ask as I glance at Saya, she nods back in response.

"Uh, good question. I don't intend to just hand it over, but if we enter the 'save zone' with it, then we won't have much of a choice, especially if there are armed soldiers there." I respond as I tilt my head.

"Then hide it outside?" Saya asks.

"A possible 'starting' choice. We could keep it as an escape plan. In case things turn out to be not as 'expected'." I respond, then turn to glance at Hitomi who was sitting behind Saya…

"But that's highly unlikely. Rei's dad should have the real deal in information concerning extraction points. What with him being a cop and what not." I add up as I turn back towards the street.

"And if we do get extracted, giving the car up is the only choice, it's not like we can take it with us. I also doubt that they will let us keep our guns…" I keep speaking as I take a turn towards the uphill road to my left, sending a corpse that didn't want to move flying through the air.

"I'm going to miss this car." I say nonchalantly as I keep driving.

"Why? It's way too uncomfortable." Saya says as she re-adjusts her butt on the seat.

(Sweetheart, if 'this' Humvee is uncomfortable, wait till you see the ones from my world, this is like a luxury limo in comparison.)

"It's a tank. On wheels." I respond flatly. Causing Saya to groan and roll her eyes, though there was a slight smile on her lips.

"You're such a kid sometimes." She says as she turns to me with a smug look.

"It's part of his charm. Don't you think?" Saeko responds as she leans over my seat.

"Liking tools of mass destruction makes me a kid? I thought it would make me something closer to a psychopath..." I say with a slight shrug. Saeko lets out a small giggle as Saya groans with a smile again, then turns back to her map.

"Well, I do not care 'what' you are…" Saeko leans towards my ear as she speaks.

"As long as 'I' am allowed to be part of it…" She whispers, then backs off and sits back to her seat.

"By the way. I need your preference for something." Saeko says as she turns to the bag next to her. I tilt my head as I start to hear shuffling. And then...

"Which one would you prefer?" She asks as she brings something between me and Saya.

Turning my head to my right, I see Saya looking at me, her eyes wide open, her face a deep red…

Actually, it was not 'me' she was looking at, but the nightgown Saeko was holding. It's just, I could see Saya through the gown. Actually, it's the same one Saeko showed Saya in the house, the black one…

"Absolutely not!" Saya shouts as she darts her head to Saeko. Who weirdly, just pulled back the dress without speaking back. Only to find out why seconds later…

"This one then?" She asks again…

This time she had, 'Something'. I don't even know how it's called. It looked like a sleeveless shirt, except the front part looked like a giant upside-down 'V', starting from the collar, then splitting up to two parts that circled around to the back at about elbow height. If I had to guess, that thing would barely cover somebody's chest. Much less Saeko's. Not to mention that the 'lower' section was completely exposed…

"T, this is even worse than before!" Saya shouts again.

"Hmm, well…" Saeko tilts her head as she stops speaking, taking the second 'nightgown' back.

"I have not taken any other nightclothes with me…" She says with a 'worried' expression.

"I'm going to give you something then." Saya flatly declares. Saeko just turns to the fuming pinkette, and glances at her chest.

"They won't fit me. Your chest is too big compared to mine." Saeko responds with a calm voice. Causing Saya to blush even more as she reflexively brings the textbook over her chest, not that it helped much. Because, you know. It's kind of giant…

"A, and you focus on the road, pervert!" Saya shouts as she darts her head to me. I just chuckle and turn to look back at the street as I shake my head. All the while, Hitomi had pushed herself between her seat and the door next to her, watching the event unfold with a concerned look…

"You had that shirt you used last time, use that." Saya then adds as she turns to Saeko.

"Left it at the house." Saeko almost intently replies.

"W,well you can't wear these!" Saya frowns as she 'slaps' the textbook back on her thighs..

"Why? Is there a problem with them?" Saeko 'asks' with a questioning look.

"Their whole existence is a problem." Saya responds as she pouts.

"Hmm, you think so too Naier?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

(Oh great, now they brought me into this…)

"You can wear whatever you want…" I respond as I keep looking at the street.

"You won't mind if I wore one of these tonight then?" She 'asks' again, a smirk slightly visible on her face...

"Uhh, well. There is one slight problem." I respond as I tilt my head.

"We might end up having to sleep with other people in the same room. And I might end up stabbing somebody if they end up staring too hard…" I added before the girls could speak.

"Oh…" Saeko's expression turned into a rather dumbfounded one, like she just realized that there's a chance of what I said can actually happen.

"Sadly, we're not prime guests like in Saya's house, we won't get preferential treatment." I add up.

"We could stay in the car then…" Saeko responds, obvious disappointment in her voice.

"Possible. But let's get there first. We'll act accordingly then." I responded as I glanced at Saeko, who didn't look very happy with my answer…

(Uhh, think, think, think. Ohh, Idea.)

"We could just go to the roof and watch the night sky then." I say as I look back at the street, and a few seconds later.

"Uhh. Too cheesy, forget I said that." I add as I tilt my head.

"Actually, that sounds like a delightful idea. I would like to ask that you do take me 'out' tonight." Saeko instantly responds as she leans on my seat again, bringing her face close to my ear once more.

"Just the two of us…" She whispers, then backs off again.

"Staying up late is counter-productive…" Saya butts in with a pout.

"Will it matter? We will be in a safe place, I don't see the problem of sleeping in a little late." Saeko calmly responds. Saya pouts even more and glances at me, before turning back to her map.

"Why do I always end up with the short end of the stick…" She whines in a low tone.

(Hmm, what we will do after we arrive aside. The road, thankfully for us, has been rather clean. Still, I can't say that I'm too keen on sharing a room with random people. Especially if two certain girls that I know will be as provoking as they always are when asleep...)

I casually swerve over a group of corpses, climbing up the pavement before driving back on the road.

(Even more so if I end up in a different room from them. Though I don't think that they will split us up after we get there.)

I let out a sigh as I kept driving…

(Ughh, I know I should not be jealous and all that crap. But, I can't be the only one who finds Saya and Saeko attractive. And I'm not exactly the perfect guy to be around with.)

"What are you so worried about?" Saya asks as she turns to me.

"What makes you think I'm worried?" I reply as I give her a quick glance.

"I could hear that sigh from miles away." Saya answers as she looks at me with a smug expression, her eyebrows making a straight line.

"My antisocial self is annoyed that I might have to be around people…" I respond with a slight chuckle.

(I'm obviously not telling them that I'm 'worried' that they might just up and leave me after we find more people. That could probably get them to actually get pissed...)

"We can just keep to ourselves. Just because they will be there, it does not mean we must make friends with them." Saeko adds as she leans between the two front seats.

"Yea, the last thing I need is another Sho talking to me." Saya groans as she looks back at her map.

"True, so, how far are we?" I ask in order to 'change' the subject.

"The mall will be to our left soon…" Saya answers.

"I see." I responded nonchalantly.

"We can take another route if you want." Saya turns to me as she speaks.

"The only reason we might need to change routes is if there are way too many corpses on our way. Otherwise, I see no reason to do so." I shake my head slightly as I keep looking at the road.

"Then keep going straight, the next turn you need to take is to the right, but it's still after a couple of intersections." Saya nods slightly and turns back to her map…

We then continued in silence, until we reached the turn Saya mentioned. The reason why she pointed this road out was because it was relatively medium in size, not too big to get clogged by fleeing cars, not too small to get blocked off by a single car. So after taking that turn, we continued forward.

"The next turn should be to the left. A couple of intersections later again, you should be able to make out the road as there is a car shop / showroom by the turn we need to take." Saya points her finger at the road ahead as she speaks.

"Hmm, a showroom? Do they keep cars fueled up in there?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"Highly doubt it. Too many cars, and most of them should not actually get driven before being sold." Saya responds as she shakes her head.

"I see. No reason to stop then." I nod as I keep my eyes on the road.

And, a couple of flying corpses later, I spot a corner building made of glass, a bunch of expensive-looking cars parked outside.

"Uhh, turn left here? I ask as I stop the car.

"Ye…" Saya lifts her head as she answers, her sentence getting cut as she looks at the road.

"...Of course something like this would happen…" Saya groans as she looks back at the map.

"Let me find a new route." She adds as she keeps looking at the map.

To put it plainly, most of the cars that should have been parked outside of the building, were piled up on the road around the building. Some of them toppled over, others on their sides. Along with a 'car hauler' big-rig that blocked off most of the road to our left.

"What happened there?" Hitomi asks as she peeks between the two front seats.

"Either the owner tried to bail out some cars, or somebody tried to pull a grand theft auto by stealing the cars amidst the panic. No matter which of the two it was, it failed miserably". Just as I finished speaking, a corpse planted its face on my door's window.

Turning to look at it, my sight focuses behind it, at the glass-walled building itself.

(The insides are empty? Hmm)

"Got anything?" I ask as I turn to Saya.

"Ughh, give me a second, I'm thinking." Saya groans with an annoyed tone.

"Well, I got something. Buckle up." I respond as I press on the gas. Saya lifting her head in question. Then looking straight ahead through the windshield.

"You're not…"

"I am." I interrupt Saya as I press on the pedal harder, the car picking up speed as it makes a beeline towards the glass building.

"W,wait!" Saya shouts as she starts flailing about, grabbing her seatbelt as the map falls between her legs. Hitomi had also gotten back on her seat, while Saeko was peeking from behind my seat. And as I could actually hear her giggle, I suspect she was smiling with the whole situation.

And the Humvee zooms past the store's outer 'garage', climbs a small number of steps. And launches itself a few meters in the air crashing through the glass wall and landing inside the building seconds later. I steer the car to the right as it touches the ground, making it slide slightly as it kept going forward.

"Where did you learn to drive!?" Saya shouts as she hugs her bag, that used to be by her legs.

"Once again. Video games!" I respond as I drive straight through the other glass wall, ending up on the other 'side' of the building.

With the big rig and pile up now to our right. I drove straight, out of the outer garage and back to the street, taking a couple of corpses along for the ride. The moment the car was in the middle of the street, I stopped and quickly exited the Humvee.

"What are you doing?!" Saya shouts.

"Give me a sec!" I shout back as I run to the front of the car.

(Wheels look fine, no glass shards visible, nothing seems to be stuck in the front or hood either.)

I nod and turn around. Only to see that one of the corpses that we dragged along had ended up crawling right next to the door I left open. It then slowly got up, and turned to 'look' inside the car. I could see Saya through the windshield, staring at the corpse wide-eyed.

'W,where is my gun!?" She shouted as she quickly started patting herself down. The sound causing the corpse to slowly hunch over as it started to limp towards the open door.

"Crap." I whisper as I run up behind the front door, giving it a strong stomp. The door smashing into the corpse, causing it to tumble down next to the back seat door.

(Sorry, seat's taken. Hitch another ride.)

I enter back into the driver's seat, and step on the gas as I slam the door shut.

"What did you do that for!" Saya shouts at me with one hell of a frown.

"Needed to check that the front didn't have any glass shards stuck in places it shouldn't." I respond as I turn to her.

"Ughh, stupid freaking idiot. Be more careful next time." She groans as she puts her hands on her forehead, letting out a sigh as she pulls her hands back towards the top of her head.

"Saya hates me now…" I whine with a sorrowful voice as I lower my head and sway it slightly.. Saya just, blinks at me a couple of times, looking stupefied. I guess my reaction was a bit 'too new'.

"I, I never said that I hated you, you idiot. Just, be more careful." She responds in a lower tone as she folds her arms, slightly lowering her head as she turns it towards the glove box…

(Don't. Don't. D…)

I let out a slight chuckle…

(Shit.)

Saya darts her head to me with a glaring pout, puffing her cheeks as she narrows her eyes.

"Idiot!" She grabs the map and throws it at me, though it just spun in the air and landed right next to my seat. Obviously not feeling satisfied with just that. She then leans to me and starts throwing quicks slaps on my arm with both hands. To be honest, she reminded me of that video where a Kitten was 'slapping' a cactus…

"Oi, don't attack the driver. Or we'll end up walking." I respond as I lean away from her…

"Then stop being so stupid, stupid." She answers back as she folds her arms.

"No can do. You wouldn't like me as much if I was not this stupid." I answer as I turn to Saya with a smirk. She just came back with a 'HUM' as she turned back to her seat and looked out the window...

I then picked the map that was next to me and opened it with one hand. Ending with it being upside down.

"Uhh, so I keep going straight?..." I ask as I tilt my head. Saya turns to glance at me, and let out a small groan as she takes the map…

"Keep going straight. The mansion is still a bit far off, but we should end up right next to it if we follow this road." Saya responds, a pout still on her face.

"Ok. Not much left to go." I nod slightly as I focus back on the road.


End file.
